Uniform Technical Standards for Oil and Gas Pipelines

April 21, 2005, New Delhi GAIL has proactively taken steps with the Bureau of Indian Standards (BIS) for formation of an exclusive cell for development of BIS standards for high-pressure oil and gas transmission pipeline systems. Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Gas has supported the initiative of GAIL by requesting the Department of Consumer Affairs to assign “Priority One” to this task. These national standards would be in line with similar international standards such as the American Petroleum Institute (API) and European Standards (EN). The need for such a standard arises in view of the rapid development of oil and gas infrastructure facilities with special emphasis on their safety and operational controls. Since such national standards do not exist today, there have been numerous view points on the deployment of technologies for pipelines.

The BIS standards will set minimum acceptable specifications for design, construction and procurement of oil and gas transmission pipeline systems. This is intended not only to ensure safety and security of pipeline infrastructure but also to lay down minimum technical compliance requirements. Further, BIS standards would bring parity in understanding of all interested parties in oil and gas transmission and eliminate divergent views on the subject.

GAIL has chosen LSAW technology for its Dahej-Vijaipur Pipeline (DVPL) project based on the recommendations of its consultants. In the absence of any national standards, there were divergent views on GAIL’s choice of technology for manufacture of line pipes for this project. Questions were raised whether an extra amount of Rs. 450 Crore was spent by GAIL due to the choice of LSAW pipes. The matter was examined in detail and after thorough scrutiny, the Government satisfied itself and concluded that the choice of LSAW pipes was made by GAIL keeping in view its performance, past experience and recommendations of consultants and also a saving of Rs 700 Crore has been achieved in the project. Indeed, the project consultants have estimated that there is a net saving Rs 34 Crores in the overall project cost specifically due to the choice of LSAW pipes in place of HSAW pipes.

In the Dahej-Uran Pipeline (DUPL) project also, divergent views were expressed on GAIL’s choice of LSAW technology. The project consultants estimated that there would be a net saving of Rs 18 Crores in the overall project if GAIL chooses LSAW pipes in place of HSAW pipes. As a result of divergent views in this matter, a directive was issued by the Government to cancel the tender for procurement of line pipes and issue a fresh tender. Accordingly, GAIL immediately complied with the directives and re-tendered incorporating all technologies.

It is expected that once this cell is formed in the BIS and the national standards defined, debates on the subject will be laid to rest.