Reliance Industries Ltdhas announced plans to construct an 8,700-km gas pipeline grid across India that will rival state-run GAIL’s network. Reliance is currently laying a 1,385-km pipeline from Kakinada in Andhra Pradesh, the landfall point of gas it plans to produce from its eastern offshore KG-D6 block, to Barauch in Gujarat, and has approval for another 2,071-km lines: these include the 820-km Jamnagar-Bhopal pipeline, the 651-km Hyderabad-Goa line, and the 600-km Kakinada-Chennai pipeline, a company official said.
"RIL plans to build a pan-India pipeline network and connect to HBJ [GAIL's main trunk line] from the eastern side to form a national gas grid," the RIL spokesman said. The network, which would transport natural gas produced from KG-D6 and other blocks off the east coast as well as gas to be produced from below coal seams (CBM), would be completed in 5-7 years, he said, but declined to give investments.
RIL plans to begin gas production from its KG-D6 block from second half of 2008 with an initial output of 40m cum/d that will double in a year. The official said that various other pipeline projects are under consideration, including the 600-km Chennai-Tuticorin pipeline, the 1100-km Kakinada-Basadbpur-Bardhaman (West Bengal) pipeline, a 652-km long pipeline between Chennai, Bangalore, and Mangalore/Mysore, and a 1100-km long pipeline between Bhopal and Cuttack. Besides these, proposals are being investigated for a 350-km Shadol-Phulpur CBM pipeline, an 800-km Hyderabad-Nagpur-Bhopal gas pipeline, and a 650-km Hyderabad-Hassan pipeline. The network would provide ultimate access to 300 towns and cities for city gas distribution.
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