Govt to expedite Kochi-Mangalore LNG pipeline project : Moily

Govt to expedite Kochi-Mangalore LNG pipeline project : Moily

Mangalore Today News Network

Mangalore, Dec 7, 2012: Union Minister for Petroleum and Natural Gas M Veerappa Moily, has stressed the need for a comprehensive and pro-active approach towards development.

Addressing a programme organized at the Kanara Chamber of Commerce and Industry (KCCI) in Mangalore on December 6, he said there was a need to give more emphasis on improving infrastructural facilities as our development was asymmetrical.

Pointing out that Karnataka was the only state in the nation which did not have a Liquified Natural Gas (LNG) Terminal, he said the government would lay more emphasis on expediting the work of laying LNG pipelines from Kochi and Bangalore to Mangalore.

 Reiterating that India can achieve self-sufficiency in oil, Moily said the Union Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Gas would be preparing a road map to ensure that India’s crude oil import reduced by half by 2016-17. He also stated that as of now India was importing 80 per cent of crude oil.

It were the attempts made by Barack Obama in US to achieve self-sufficiency in oil that brought him back to power, he said.

Delving on allowing FDI in retail sector, Moily justified the government move and said it would create more job opportunities. Recalling  how even nations like China, Brazil, South Korea had initially faced opposition to a similar move, he said later the people in those nations had  accepted FDI in retail.

Moily was also felicitated on the occasion on behalf of the KCCI.

  Mohammad Ameen,KCCI Chairman, later submitted a memorandum to Veerappa Moily enlisting various demands of the Chamber including setting up of an LNG terminal at NMPT, introducing intra-trade between oil marketing companies and to fix refinery point rates for MRPL’s petroleum products. Another demand placed forth was to exempt MSEZ from payment of Minimum Alternate Tax.