State-owned Oil and Natural Gas Corporation (ONGC) is looking to set up mini-LNG plants to evacuate natural gas from wells located in areas that are not connected with pipelines.

The firm has identified five sites in Andhra Pradesh, Jharkhand and Gujarat for setting up mini plants at wellhead that will convert the gas pumped out from under the ground into liquefied natural gas (LNG) by supercooling it to minus 160 degrees celsius.

This LNG will be loaded on cryogenic trucks and transported to the nearest pipeline where it will be reconverted into its gaseous state and pumped into the network for supply to users like power plants, fertiliser units or city gas retailers.

ONGC has floated a tender seeking manufacturers/service providers to tap stranded natural gas, according to the tender.

The locations identified for setting up mini-LNG plants in the tender are two sites at Rajahmundry in Andhra Pradesh and one each at Ankleshwar in Gujarat, Bokaro in Jharkhand and Cambay in Gujarat.

ONGC in the tender document said the country has an extensive network of pipelines that connect supply and demand centres.

However, there remains a substantial volume of stranded gas (non-connected) that is required to be tapped for enhancing domestic supplies and meeting the needs of nearby demand centres.

The stranded volumes, it said, range from 5,000 to 50,000 standard cubic meters per day that can be produced for up to five years.

The tender called for bids from manufacturers and service providers to “set up a small scale LNG plant on BOO (build, own and operate) basis to produce LNG, transport the produced LNG by cascades / tankers to consumption sites located within a distance of around 250 kilometers, depressurize / re-gasify the LNG and then inject the gas into existing gas distribution grids or supply directly to bulk consumers.”

India produces over 90 million standard cubic meters per day of natural gas. PTI