Modi, Oli put India's first overseas petroleum pipeline project on track

Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi and his Nepal counterpart K P Sharma Oli on Saturday launched the ground-breaking ceremony of the Rs 3.24 billion India-Nepal petroleum products pipeline from Motihari to Amlekhgunj. This is the first international cross-country pipeline project in India. 

Indian Oil Corporation supplies the complete requirements of major petroleum products of Nepal from its Barauni Refinery and Raxaul depot in Bihar to Amlekhganj depot of Nepal Oil Corporation. 

The Government of India and the Government of Nepal through their respective national oil companies -- IndianOil Corporation and Nepal Oil Corporation -- had signed a Memorandum of Understanding in August 2015.The Motihari-Amlekhgunj Pipeline project was approved by IndianOil in September 2015. The 69-km-long pipeline project involves laying of a 10.75-inch diameter cross-country pipeline from Motihari in Bihar to Amlekhganj in Nepal, with pumping facilities at Motihari.  The design throughput capacity of the pipeline is 2.0 million tonnes per annum. Out of the total length, 32.7 km of pipeline will be laid in the Indian territory and 36.2 km will be laid in Nepal territory.

The schedule for completion of the project is 30 months from the date of receipt of statutory clearances and the work is likely to be completed by March 2019. 

IndianOil operates a 13,391 km pipelines network, the largest in the country, with a throughput capacity of 94.79 MMTPA liquid pipelines network and 9.5 MMSCMD of gas pipeline. IndianOil’s Pipelines Division has been conferred with the coveted Oil & Gas Transportation Company of the Year Award by the Federation of Indian Petroleum Industry (FIPI) for the second year in a row. At present, a number of pipeline projects with a CAPEX of Rs 17,765 crore are under various stages of implementation. Upon completion of these projects, the length of IndianOil’s pipeline network would increase to about 20,700 km by the year 2020.