ONGC eyes small LNG plants to carry gas from far-off fields

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, fertilizer units or city gas retailers.