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State-run Indian Oil Corporation plans to use nearly half the capacity of the country’s longest LPG pipeline. The balance capacity of the proposed pipeline is to be used by the public sector corporations Hindustan Petroleum and Bharat Petroleum, and Reliance Industries.
Petroleum & Natural Gas Regulatory Board (PNGRB), the downstream regulator, has invited bids from interested parties by June 6 to lay a 2,650-km long liquefied petroleum gas pipeline from Kandla in Gujarat to Gorakhpur in Uttar Pradesh, with additional feeder lines of Pipavav-Ahmedabad and Dahej-Koyali.
The pipeline will have a capacity of 6 million metric tonnes per annum, including common carrier facility for any third party on open access basis. The main line will be about 2,000 km long
Indian Oil Corporation had written to the PNGRB about four months ago, saying it was interested in building such a pipeline between Gujarat and Uttar Pradesh to cater to rising demand for cooking gas. Following such expression of interests, the regulator has to hold consultations with all stakeholders. Based on their feedback, it has to firm up the specifications for the proposed pipeline and then open it to formal bids.
During the consultation, GAIL said the proposed pipeline would hurt the company’s underutilised LPG pipeline that partly runs on the same route, and therefore shouldn’t be built. During the consultation, the companies supporting the pipeline had to intimate PNGRB how much capacity each of them planned to use.
IOC has committed to use 3 million metric tonnes of capacity while HPCL and BPCL have committed 1.8 mt and 1.7 mt respectively. RIL has committed 242,000 mt. These companies will source some LPG from their respective refineries.
Source: The Economic Times
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