Bhubaneswar: The Indian Oil (IOCL) on Saturday said it would inaugurate its Balasore pump station at Hidigaon in Chandipur on Sunday.

The inauguration of Paradip-Balasore section of the Paradip-Haldia-Durgapur LPG pipeline is envisaged to cater to the LPG demand of Odisha, Jharkhand and Bengal.

Addressing a news conference here, executive director of the Indian Oil's south eastern region pipelines P.C. Choubey said: "Petroleum and natural gas minister Dharmendra Pradhan will inaugurate the Balasore pump station. The 710-km-long pipeline is originating from Paradip and terminates in Durgapur in Bengal. A total of Rs 400 crore has been invested for this project in Odisha."

The Indian Oil's chief general manager Pritish Bharat was also present in the news conference.

With the commissioning of 157km of the Paradip-Balasore section pipeline, construction of the pump station in Paradip and the delivery station in Balasore; the road transportation of LPG from Paradip is eliminated, thus reducing carbon emissions and traffic congestion.

More than one crore gas cylinders are going to get filled at the Balasore LPG bottling plant.

From the environmental point of view, this project would result in reduction of carbon emission to the tune of 16 lakh MT per annum, officials said.

Choubey said for augmentation of Paradip, Haldia, Barauni, Bongaigaon and Guwahati pipeline, the Indian Oil has invested Rs 586 crore. The pipeline passes through Odisha, Bengal, Jharkhand and Bihar. Of the Rs 586 crore, Rs 321 crore has been invested in Odisha.

The officials said the Indian Oil was having the biggest and largest crude oil handling facility of 37 million metric tonne per annum in the east coast in Paradip with three single-point mooring system which are installed in the deep sea at a distance of 21km from shoreline.

The pipeline is acting as the energy highway to the entire eastern and north-eastern region of the country, supplying crude oil to five refineries namely Paradip, Haldia, Barauni, Bongaigaon and Guwahati.

This crude pipeline will reduce the positioning cost of crude at the refineries by about Rs 400 crore per annum.

"Paradip has one of the biggest crude oil storage facilities having 31 number of crude oil storage tanks of capacity of 60,000 kilolitres each. This will ensure uninterrupted supply of crude oil to all the eastern region refineries of the oil firm. The Balasore pump station will play a key role in feeding all those refineries." Choubey said.