Reliance Industries of India is to invest between $6-7 billion in a pipeline grid that includes both main gas transport trunk lines as well as spur lines across four states, followed eventually by construction of a pan-Indian gas network. The company ultimately plans to lay around 10,000km of pipelines throughout the country, which would be used on common-carrier basis.
The initial phase of this considerable expansion will involve 1,950km of main line and about 1,150km of spur lines, and will be laid within 18 months; the total network is planned within three years.
Company officials have said that the work on two main trunk lines – the East-West corridor and the Kakinada-Haldia link – will be undertaken first. While the Kakinada pipeline is already at an advanced stage of planning, the company is in the process of working on East-Coast link between Kakinada and Hazira and beyond to supply to industrial consumers. Further expansion will see a connection between Kakinada and Chennai, and onwards to Tuticorin; a further pipeline will link Chennai and Bangalore and this could be extended to Kochi, according to company officials.
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