Press Releases
[New Delhi, 30th March, 2007]
GAIL to lay 5000 km of new natural gas pipelines
New Delhi, March 30, 2007. The Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Gas (MoPNG) has approved the request of GAIL for inviting Expression of Interest (EOI) for five new natural gas pipelines in the country. The pipelines for which approval for EOI has been granted are: (1) Dadri – Bawana – Nangal pipeline, (2) Chainsa – Gurgaon – Jhajjhar – Hissar pipeline, (3) Jagdishpur – Haldia pipeline, (4) Dabhol – Bangalore pipeline and (5) Kochi – Kanjirkkod - Bangalore / Mangalore pipeline. The total length of these pipelines would be 3300 km.
In addition to these, GAIL will be laying 3 pipelines (within the existing ROU) to augment the capacities of Dahej – Vijaipur pipeline (610 km), Vijaipur – Dadri pipeline (505 km), Vijaipur – Auraiya – Jagdishpur pipeline (571 km). The carrying capacity of these three pipelines shall be 74 MMSCMD.
EOIs for taking capacities in 5 new natural gas pipelines on ‘common carrier’ basis will be invited in accordance with the pipeline policy soon. The total length of these pipelines along with the 3 capacity augmentation lines will be around 5000 km. The estimated investment on this would be Rs. 18,000 crore. This will further strengthen GAIL’s position as a major gas transmission company and add to the existing network of over 5600 km. These pipelines will be built by GAIL on ownership basis and are expected to be completed in two phases in the next 3-4 years. When these pipelines are commissioned, the capacity is expected to increase from 140 MMSCMD at present to around 280 MMSCMD.
The approval by the Government for the above pipelines to GAIL by Government is an endorsement of its core competence in the area of pipelines for gas transportation.
The 610 km Dadri – Bawana – Nangal pipeline will pass through UP, Delhi, Haryana and Punjab and the estimated investment for pipeline is Rs. 2500 crore. The 310 km Chainsa – Gurgaon – Jhajjhar – Hissar pipeline will pass through Haryana and Rajasthan and shall be laid at an estimated investment of Rs. 1000 crore. The Jagdishpur – Haldia pipeline will be 876 km long and shall have facilities for bi-directional flow. The pipeline will pass through West Bengal, Jharkhand, Bihar and U.P. The estimated investment for the pipeline will be Rs. 2000 crore. The 730 km Dabhol – Bangalore pipeline will pass through Maharashtra and Karnataka and shall have an estimated investment of Rs. 2500 crore. The 840 km Kochi – Kanjirkkod – Bangalore / Mangalore pipeline will pass through Kerala, Tamil Nadu and Karnataka and will be laid at an estimated investment of Rs. 2500 crore. The design capacities of Jagdishpur-Haldia, Dabhol – Bangalore, Kochi – Kanjirkkod – Bangalore / Mangalore pipelines are likely to be 12 MMSCMD each, whereas the design capacities of Dadri – Bawana – Nangal and Chainsa – Gurgaon – Jhajjhar – Hissar pipelines is likely to be 25 MMSCMD each.
The scenario of natural gas availability in the country is set for a major change in the coming years with a substantial increase in the availability of natural gas following the recent discoveries in the country, specially on the east coast, namely, the KG and the Mahanadi basins. The projected availability of gas is expected to increase from the present around 95 MMSCMD to around 170 MMSCMD in the coming two years.
Apart from expected increase in availability from indigenous sources, Petronet LNG Limited (PLL) and Shell are importing LNG at their LNG regassification terminals on the west coast of India.
GAIL has signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with Reliance Industries Limited (RIL) for cooperation in the gas sector including transportation of natural gas from the various gas sources of RIL in Krishna Godavari basin through an integrated pipeline network. GAIL has also initialed a MoU with ONGC for transportation of the gas from ONGC fields on the east coast. GAIL (India) Limited and Shell India have agreed to sharing of GAIL’s pipeline interconnectivity with Hazira terminal for Gas supplies in the country. The two companies have initialed a broad framework of agreement for cooperation which will help evacuation of regassified LNG from Shell’s Hazira terminal for supplies to GAIL’s customers. GAIL’s pipeline network is already connected with Shell’s Hazira LNG terminal. GAIL, as a equity partner of Ratnagiri Gas and Power Private Limited is also working towards expeditious completion of Dabhol LNG terminal, which would have a capacity of regassifying 5 MTPA of LNG.
These 8 new pipelines to be laid by GAIL will form part of an integrated national gas grid in the country. These pipelines will also enable GAIL to maintain its dominant position in the gas business, especially the transmission segment and continue the relationship with existing customers and also add more customers. The integrated gas pipeline network will also enable development of city gas distribution projects in the country by catering to a large number of cities and towns falling in the catchment area of the existing and future pipeline networks.