IOCL to join hands with Chhattisgarh for "total energy solution"

The Indian Oil Corporation Limited (IOCL), a Maharatna national oil company would seal a deal with the Chhattisgarh government for developing natural gas infrastructure, city gas distribution and supply of gas.

"The IOCL and Chhattisgarh government would jointly work out the 'total energy solution' for various fuel applications in the state enterprises," a senior company official told Business Standard. A Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) between both the parties would be inked soon.

The company official said under the plans for increasing its presence in the gas sector, the IOCL wished to develop the 'total energy solutions' especially natural gas in Chhattisgarh. Besides the development of natural gas infrastructure such as pipelines and city gas distribution networks, the company would set up CNG stations in the state for ensuring availability of natural gas to consumers in domestic, commercial, industrial and transport sectors. The agreement would also help the company to involve the state agencies in the marketing and supply of natural gas to various consumers across the state.

A Joint Coordination Team (JCT) would be formed for expediting and monitoring the progress of the project. The team would comprise of four members. The state government would coordinate for the grant of all necessary permissions, approvals, clearances, statistics and other details available with various state agencies for the work.

The technical and commercial expertise of the IOCL would be used to study various options and evaluate energy demand of the state. Both the parties would explore the option of forming Joint Ventures (JVs). Equity participation in such JVs by other entities would be decided mutually at appropriate time.