The Rs. 730-crore project awaits clearance; will help in safe transportation of fuel The Indian Oil Corporation (IOC) plans to lay five pipelines running for 22 km from the Ennore to Korukkupet terminals, at an estimated cost of Rs. 730 crore. While speaking at the inauguration of re-routing of three pipelines from Foreshore terminal to Korukkupet terminal on Monday, Anish Aggarwal, director (pipelines), IOC, said, they were waiting for clearance to begin the project. Saving costs Rakesh Sehgal, executive director of IOC, said that once cleared, the 22 km pipeline would serve as a multi-product pipeline and help them save costs up to a few hundred crores. The ‘re-routing’ project that was inaugurated involved laying three new underground pipelines from the Foreshore terminal to the Korukkupet terminal, which will help in transporting various types of oil and fuel. Mr. Aggarwal said a section of the pipeline from CPCL refinery and Korukkupet terminal was overground and the remaining 5 km from Korukkupet to Chennai Port was underground. “The old lines were about four decades old and over the years, there has been new construction and residences; so, we decided to have these three new lines for safely transporting the products. Also, with time, it became difficult to maintain the old pipelines,” he said. This project that cost Rs. 98 crore was completed in 18 months. The three lines include — white oil pipelines (for transporting petrol, diesel, naptha, kerosene and ATF), black oil pipeline (furnace oil) and lube oil pipeline (various types of lube oils). Optical Fibre Cables have been laid along with new pipelines which have the SCADA system to help detect leaks and provide for surge relief, thermal relief and automatic shut-down.