GAIL survey sets gas grid project rolling

The National Gas Grid (NGG) project of GAIL Ltd has gained further momentum with the company completing the engineering and cadastral survey for 7,030 kilometres.

The survey is a pre-requisite to obtain right of use (RoU) certificates which will allow GAIL to start work on the Rs 20,000 crore project.

"GAIL will like to complete the NGG project within schedule. The completion of the survey was a step in that direction," Proshanto Banerjee, chairman and managing director of GAIL, said.

According to the Petroleum & Mineral Pipeline (P & MP) Act, GAIL will have to submit the RoU proposals to the ministry after completion of the survey. The company has so far made proposals for 3,465km, while the ministry has published proposals for 2,559km.

The RoU acquisition for the entire pipeline route was scheduled to be completed by September 2004. Several segments were ahead of schedule. NGG was expected to be ready by 2008.

The central government is yet to formally spell out if GAIL will be the sole agency to construct the NGG. However, Banerjee said GAIL is confident it would retain its supremacy in gas marketing in the country.

"GAIL has a track record of building pipelines within schedule and running them efficiently," Banerjee added.

The route will connect gas supply points, including the new NELP gas finds and LNG import terminals, to consuming centres. NGG will have 6,490km as main lines and 1400km of associated spur lines.

Among the 12 major segments of the NGG, work for Dahej-Vijaipur stretch has been completed and was expected to be commissioned by end of March. Work on the Dahej-Hazira-Uran stretch at an investment of Rs 1,400 crore was expected to start soon.

In the next phase, the company will begin work near Kakinada, from where the Krishna-Godavari basin gas owned by Reliance was expected to be evacuated. Kakinada will have three feeds, to Chennai, to Hyderabad extended up to Uran, and to Kolkata.

GAIL has also initiated a study to include north-eastern sector in its gas pipeline plans to bring gas from Myanmar to feed into the NGG.