India's GAIL Completes Route Survey of LNG Pipeline from Dabhol to Bangalore

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Researched by Industrial Info Resources (Sugar Land, Texas)--India's state-run natural gas company GAIL (India) Limited (BSE:532155) (New Delhi) has completed the route survey for the 1,400-kilometer gas pipeline to be laid between Bangalore in Karnataka and Dabhol in Maharashtra. The pipeline will transmit regasified liquefied natural gas (LNG) from the Dabhol gas terminal of Ratnagiri Gas and Power Private Limited (RGPPL) (New Delhi) to industrial clusters in the states of Karnataka and Maharashtra. The project plans were later modified to include Goa as an additional beneficiary of the pipeline.

According to B.C. Tripathi, chairman and managing director of GAIL, the total investment on the pipeline project will be about $980 million, and the 30-inch-diameter pipeline would be designed for a gas-transmission capacity of 16 million cubic meters per day.

The project will be implemented in two phases. During Part A of Phase I, 402 kilometers of the pipeline will be laid between Dabhol and Gokak in north Karnataka at an estimated cost of about $343 million. Part A is scheduled to be completed by 2011-12 and will involve the laying of spur lines to Goa and Belgaum in Karnataka. Part B of Phase I will see 570 kilometers of pipeline laid from Gokak to Bangalore, along with spur lines and feeder lines, at the cost of about $531 million. Part B is scheduled to be completed by 2012-13. The end point of the pipeline will be the 1,400-megawatt (MW) combined-cycle power plant at Bidadi on the outskirts of Bangalore. This is the first gas-based power project being set up by state-operated Karnataka Power Corporation Limited (Bangalore).

Phase II of the gas pipeline project will involve 417 kilometers of spur and feeder lines being laid to Kolhapur, Ratnagiri and Sangli in Maharashtra, and Bijapur, Davangere, Dharwad, Harihar and Tumkur in Karnataka. Phase II will require an investment of almost $105 million and has a scheduled completion date of 2013-14. The tendering process for procurement of pipelines for the project is scheduled to begin soon.

The project plans also include the development of about 8,000 MW of gas-fired power plants along the pipeline route. The pipeline will benefit Karnataka by providing fuel for power stations. The state government of Karnataka has nominated Karnataka State Industrial Investment Development Corporation (Bangalore) as the nodal agency to handle land acquisition processes for the project. GAIL has already applied for several crossing permissions for the pipeline. The Karnataka government's High Level Clearance Committee has also granted approval to the pipeline project. A regional gas-management center will be set up in Bangalore by GAIL to manage the supply and distribution of gas through the pipeline.

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