Coimbatore: Indian Oil Corporation (IOC) has lined up investments of over Rs 2,200 crore in Tamil Nadu in the next two years towards taking up major grassroots and expansion projects in the state, said a senior official on Tuesday. "The projects include grass-roots terminal at Asanur and Vallur, captive petroleum project, oil and lubricant-LPG jetty at Kamarajar port among others," said V C Asokan, Indian Oil Corporation Ltd executive director and Tamil Nadu State Head.
"The company would also take up the work for setting up the integrated Lube complex at Ammulaivoyyal village on the outskirts of Chennai, apart from the ongoing projects in the Ennore-Tiruvallur sector, Bengaluru-Puducherry-Nagapattinam-Madurai-Turicorin gas pipeline and augmentation of Chennai-Tiruchirappali-Madurai pipeline projects," he said.
"The joint venture with Israel technology company Phinergy to manufacture and commercialise aluminium-air technology as an alternative of Lithium battery would be ready in another six months and a tripartite agreement was recently inked," he said.
The project with its research and development team for production of aluminium plates for aluminium-air batteries, and recycling of aluminium after use in these batteries were progressing fast, he said.
He noted that the company has achieved 10 percent ethanol blending with petrol in Tamil Nadu and Puducherry and was working towards increasing it to 20 percent in line with the Centre's mandate. Asokan said that the Indian Oil has 57 percent share in LPG, 36.9 percent in petrol and 43.9 percent in diesel in Tamil Nadu.
When asked about the future consumption of petrol and diesel, in the wake of the government pushing for electric vehicles, Asokan said there would not be a major impact on the consumption in the next 15 to 20 years, since more fuel-driven vehicles were coming out.
(PSU Watch– India's Business News centre that places the spotlight on PSUs, Bureaucracy, Defence and Public Policy is now on Google News. Click here to follow. Also, join PSU Watch Channel in your Telegram. You may also follow us on Twitter here and stay updated.)