RIL's K-G line faces forest hurdle

Reliance's plan to develop its block in the Krishna-Godavari basin in Andhra Pradesh may be hit with the Forest Survey of India prohibiting it from laying a pipeline through a forest reserve along the coastline. The block's gas find is pegged at 7 trillion cubic feet.

Reliance Industries Ltd has a commitment to begin commercial production by June 2008. The 1,200-km pipeline is expected to service areas in Kakinada up to Gujarat.

"We have not got the clearance but the rest of the work is on schedule. We are pushing for speedy clearance," a Reliance executive said.

The executive said options like alternative routes for the pipeline were being considered and added the company was confident of timely clearance.

The government has given an in-principle approval for laying the pipeline subject to confirmation by the Forest Survey of India. The latter has informed Reliance that it did not have the mandate to take up the work. The company has taken up the matter with the Forest Advisory Committee.

Reliance, with Niko Resources of Canada, was awarded two deep-water blocks in the K-G basin under the first NELP offering. In 2002, it announced one of the country's largest finds of natural gas in the basin.

The company is expected to deliver about 40 million standard cubic metres of gas per day in three to four years. Other hurdles like acquiring land in Pondicherry for onshore pipeline from landfall point to the proposed onshore terminal have been overcome.

The government has brought Pondicherry under the purview of the Petroleum and Mineral Pipelines (Acquisition of Right of User Inland) Act, 1962, which empowers it to acquire land for pipelines.