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Reliance plans two multi-source gas pipelines
By Rani Akash
Reliance Industries plans to set up two multi-source mega gas supply pipelines connecting Jamnagar to Cuttack and Goa to Kakinada. These pipelines would be the first of their kind in the country. So far the pipelines that have been built in India have just one source of gas supply.
The Jamnagar-Cuttack pipeline will connect Reliance's proposed LNG import terminal at Jamnagar in Gujarat to its NEC-25 offshore exploration block at Cuttack in Orissa. The pipeline will be developed in two phases. In the first phase, a pipeline starting from Jamnagar and traversing through Ahmedabad, Ujjain and Bhopal is envisaged. In the second phase, the pipeline will be extended up to Cuttack. Reliance expects to obtain around 20 million cubic meters of gas per day from the NEC-25 block.
The second pipeline would connect Reliance's offshore exploration block in Goa with the one at Kakinada in Andhra Pradesh. This pipeline will connect the MB-5 block, which lies south of Mumbai High and north of Goa, with the D-4 and D-5 blocks in offshore Kakinada. From the Kakinada block, Reliance hopes to get 20 million cubic meters of gas per day.
The company plans to implement these projects through a new subsidiary, Gas Transportation and Infrastructure Ltd. The company has also applied to the government for nomination of a competent authority for right of user under the Pipeline Maintenance and Terminal Act, in each state that the pipelines will pass through.
The pipeline projects, which are still in the nascent stage, have already raised opposition from Bharat Oman Refineries Ltd (BORL), which has planned a pipeline from Vadinar, Gujarat, to Bina, Madhya Pradesh. It may be mentioned here that project work for this pipeline, though conceived in early 1990, has not yet started.
In a communication to the Union Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Gas, BORL has noted that in Gujarat and some areas of MP, the right of user (RoU) of Reliance's pipeline is located towards the north of BORL's pipeline and for the balance portion in MP, it is located to the south of the pipeline. BORL has stated that it would be essential to avoid any crossing of the RoUs of the two pipelines to prevent any possible technical, legal and practical problems.
(1/7/01)
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