State gas utility GAIL India plans to invest Rs 8,000 crore in laying a pipeline from Andhra Pradesh to Central India for transporting natural gas from the discoveries made in Bay of Bengal by companies such as Reliance Industries, ONGC and GSPC.
GAIL has applied to Petroleum and Natural Gas Regulatory Board (PNGRB) for permission to lay a 1,100-km pipeline from Vijayawada in Andhra Pradesh to Vijaipur in Madhya Pradesh, company Chairman and Managing Director U D Choubey said.
At Vijaipur, the proposed pipeline would be connected to GAIL's cross-country Hazira-Vijaipur-Jagdishpur pipeline.
The pipeline is proposed to be laid in four years and will transport 25-40 million standard cubic metres of gas (mmscmd) per day.
"The pipeline is needed for meeting the gas requirements of industries in central and north India," he said.
Incidentally, Gujarat State Petronet Ltd (GSPL) has also proposed a similar central India pipeline from the east coast to Bhilwara in Rajasthan. The GSPL line will originate at Mallavaram on the Andhra coast and carry 25 mmscmd gas.
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While GAIL has identified ONGC and Reliance Industries as potential sources of gas, GSPL has proposed to transport gas from a field owned by group firm Gujarat State Petroleum Corp in the same KG basin.
GAIL plans to nearly double its pipeline network to 12,000-km by 2012 and raise gas transportation to 300 mmcmd.
The company had in 2007 received government authorisation to lay five new pipelines - Dadri–Bawana–Nangal, Chainsa–Gurgaon–Jhajjhar–Hissar pipeline, Jagdishpur–Haldia pipeline, Dabhol–Bangalore pipeline and Kochi– Kanjirkkod-Bangalore/Mangalore pipeline.
The total length of these pipelines would be 3,300 km and would cost Rs 18,000 crore.
GAIL has signed initial agreements with Reliance Industries and Oil and Natural Gas Corp (ONGC) for transporting and marketing the gas the two firms have independently discovered in Krishna Godavari basin in Bay of Bengal.
Choubey said the new pipeline would 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," he said.
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.