BENGALURU :  Indian Oil Corporation (IOC) has signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with the Karnataka government under which the firm will invest `500 crore to set up petroleum products receiving, storage and distribution terminal at Chitradurga in Karnataka. It will be set up in an area of 120 acres in the district.

The MoU was signed during ‘Invest Karnataka’, conference at Hubballi. The new oil terminal is expected to cater to the growing demand of petroleum products from Karnataka where IOC has nearly 50 per cent market share. Currently, the Devanagonthi terminal of the IOC in Bengaluru outskirts supplies 30 per cent of the petroleum demands in Karnataka, supplying 500 million tonnes of the fuel.

The terminal receives petrol, diesel and aviation fuels from two key pipelines one of 300 kilometre (Km) from Chennai Petroleum Corporation and the second from 480 km away from the Petronet Mangalore-Hassan-Bangalore pipeline. A day-long Invest Karnataka conference saw investment proposals totalling `72,000 crore, mostly in north Karnataka, by 51 firms. This is expected to generate a whopping 90,000 employment opportunities in the region. Companies from across manufacturing, aerospace, logistics and power generation sectors have committed to invest across various cities in Karnataka.