The expansion, to be completed within 54 months without acquiring additional land, will also support LNG bunkering, exports to neighbouring countries and the Centre’s target of raising natural gas’s share in India’s energy mix to 15% by 2030.
The Union Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change (MoEFCC) has granted environmental clearance for the ₹3,400-crore expansion of IndianOil LNG Pvt Ltd’s (IOLPL) Ennore LNG terminal in North Chennai. This will pave the way for doubling the facility’s regasification capacity from 5 million tonnes per annum (MTPA) to 10 MTPA.
IndianOil LNG Private Ltd, a joint venture of Indian Oil Corporation Ltd, commissioned the country’s first LNG import and regasification terminal on the east coast at Ennore in 2019 after construction began in 2015. The facility was originally designed with a capacity of 5 MMTPA and provisions for future expansion to 10 MMTPA.
The proposed expansion is driven by rising natural gas demand in the Ennore catchment area. The enhanced facility will increase regasification capacity from 20 million standard cubic metres per day (MMSCMD) to 40 MMSCMD, enabling greater supplies of regasified LNG (RLNG) to industries across Tamil Nadu, Andhra Pradesh and Karnataka, the company said in a filing with the Environment ministry.
The gas will cater to power plants, fertilizer units, industrial consumers, and city gas distribution networks, including piped natural gas for households and compressed natural gas for the transport sector, the company said in the filing.
The expansion project will be executed within the existing terminal premises at Kamarajar Port in Ennore without acquiring additional land.
The expansion is expected to be completed in 54 months and will support the Centre’s objective of increasing the share of natural gas in India’s energy mix from about 6 per cent to 15 per cent by 2030, sources said.
Besides meeting growing domestic demand, the project is also expected to create opportunities for LNG bunkering, break-bulk operations and exports to neighbouring countries such as Sri Lanka, Bangladesh and Myanmar.
Published on July 6, 2026
