Paradip Oil Refinery. Telegraph picture

Bhubaneswar, Sept. 13: Odisha will emerge as a hub of petroleum and gas-based industries as nearly Rs 1 lakh crore worth of investment will come to the state in the next five years.

The money will be invested in the petrochemicals, oil and gas pipelines, liquefied natural gas (LNG) and liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) terminals and setting up a strategic oil reserve.

The projects include the existing investment of Rs 34,000 crore in the Paradip oil refinery. The refinery will be commissioned next year.

Union minister of state for petroleum and natural gas Dharmendra Pradhan unveiled a plan of his ministry on how to make Odisha as the “energy gateway” for eastern India after meeting chief minister Naveen Patnaik yesterday.

A petroleum reserve will come up at Chandikhole with an investment of Rs 3,800 crore. The crude oil will be stored in an underground tank with a capacity to store 3.7 million metric tonnes.

The tank can meet eight days’ requirement of the country’s crude oil. The ministry has asked the state government to allocate 400 acres for the purpose. “We have planned to set up such reserves in at least four locations — one each in Tamil Nadu, Rajasthan, Gujarat and Odisha — having a combined capacity of around 12.5 million tonnes. The strategic oil reserve in Odisha will be the largest among them,” said Pradhan.

At present, the country has three such reserves — one in Vishakhapatnam in Andhra Pradesh and two others in Mangalore and Padur in Karnataka. “We are planning to reserve crude oil for at least 90 days to meet the requirement during any shortage,” he said.

The ministry has already floated a special purpose vehicle christened as Indian Strategic Petroleum Reserves Limited to set up such reserves across the country.

The minister also said: “Odisha will be one of the few states, which will have gas from three sources — imported LNG, domestic natural gas and coal bed methane (CBM). The proposed LNG terminal will play a great role to this effect.”

He also announced that a regional centre of hydrocarbon skill sector council would be set up in the state to develop skill and entrepreneurship of youth in trades specific to the petroleum and natural gas sectors. Pradhan told reporters that all these projects would generate employment opportunity for more than 50,000 youths of the state. “Once the projects come up, Odisha will gain another Rs 3,000-crore revenue from the petroleum sector. Now, it is getting nearly Rs 2,500 crore,” he said.

The ministry also said work was going on to provide gas to the households through pipe in major towns across the state. “The oil exploration on the Mahanadi basin is at the advance stage. The natural gas is also located on the Bay of Bengal near Chandbali in Bhadrak district,” he said.