State-controlled Ennore Port today said it is in talks with oil marketing firm Indian Oil Corp for setting up a terminal at an investment of Rs 4,300 crore for importing liquefied natural gas (LNG).
"We have proposed to develop an LNG terminal in association with Indian Oil Corp (IOC)," S Velumani, Chairman and Managing Director of Ennore Port told reporters here.
IOC board has approved an investment of Rs 4,300 crore for the development of the terminal, he said, adding that the terminal would have berth, regassification and storage facilities.
The entire investment would be done by IOC and Ennore Port would facilitate the development of the terminal.
On the current status of the proposed project, Velumani said, "IOC is engaged in getting environment clearances and the discussion on the commercial nitty-gritty of the endeavour is on."
Meanwhile, Ennore Port today signed a preliminary agreement with the Ministry of Shipping to increase its target of cargo handling capacity to 61.5 million tonnes by 2014-15.
"The current cargo handling capacity of Ennore Port is 15 million tonnes which the company plans to enhance to 61.5 million tonnes by developing new terminals through PPP (public private partnership)," he said.
The investment in construction of cargo handling will be by private companies and Ennore Port would be the facilitator.
Ennore Port would take up four major projects — development of liquid terminal for Rs 250 crore, common use coal terminal for Rs 380 crore and iron ore export terminal for which the investment would be made in phases.
An investment of Rs 360 crore would be made in the first phase and in the second phase when the traffic (demand for iron ore exports) picks up, he added.
The company would also build a container terminal with a capacity of 1.5 million tonnes at an investment of Rs 1,400 crore.
Ennore Port is also engaged in the export of automobiles from the country and is being used by auto giants such as Nissan, Toyota, Ford etc.
