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Reliance plans 2 mega gas pipelines

Pradeep Puri

Reliance has proposed to the government two mega gas pipeline projects crisscrossing the country. The multi-source supply pipelines will be the first of their kind in India.

The pipeline projects will be implemented by a Reliance subsidiary, Gas Transportation and Infrastructure Ltd.

As per the proposal, the first pipeline will connect Jamnagar in Gujarat with Cuttack in Orissa. The second pipeline will join Goa with Kakinada in Andhra Pradesh.

The idea behind the first pipeline is to join the proposed LNG import terminal of Reliance at Jamnagar with its offshore exploration block in Orissa. In the second case, the pipeline will connect Reliance's offshore exploration block in Goa with the one in Andhra Pradesh.

Hitherto, all the gas pipelines in the country had only one source of gas supply. Like, in the case of the HBJ pipeline, the only source is the gas produced by the Oil and Natural Gas Corporation at Hazira. If this source gets shut, the pipeline goes dry.

However, in the case of the pipelines proposed by Reliance, in case one source is unable to make the gas supply, there is always another to pitch in.

The Jamnagar-Cuttack pipeline is proposed to be implemented in two phases. In the first phase, the gas pipeline will travel from Jamnagar to Ahmedabad, Ujjain and terminate at Bhopal. In the second phase, it will be extended from Bhopal to Cuttack.

Reliance is planning an LNG import terminal at Jamnagar where it will put up a degasification plant as well. LNG is proposed to be imported from Iran. Reliance has a 25 per cent stake in a gas field there.

While the degasified LNG will enter the pipeline from the Jamnagar end, the Cuttack end is expected to get the gas from the NEC-25 exploration block awarded to Reliance under the first bidding round of the new exploration licensing policy.

Reliance expects to get around 20 million cubic metres of gas per day from this block, where drilling is scheduled to start in November-December this year.

In the second case, Reliance proposes to join the MB-5 block, which lies south of Bombay 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 metres of gas per day. It is still assessing the potential of the Goa block.

Reliance has applied to the government for nomination of a competent authority for right of use under the Pipeline Maintenance and Terminal Act, in each state that the pipelines pass through.

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