Oil is well that ends well

With GSPL all set to com
08 December 2003

Ahmedabad: Gujarat has long been considered the oil and gas capital of India and that status has been reinforced of late, with Gujarat State Petronet Ltd (GSPL) racing towards the completion of the pipeline infrastructure for distributing gas.

GSPL (www.gujpetronet.com) was set up in 1998 by Gujarat State Petroleum Corporation (GSPC), one of the fastest-growing groups in the energy sector and the only state government-owned E&P (exploration and production) company in the country, as a special purpose vehicle in order to set up the gas grid. Once completed, the grid will connect the supply and demand centres of natural gas in Gujarat.

The project envisages transporting indigenous natural gas from production centres and LNG from terminals to end-consumption points and local distributors all over Gujarat through a high-pressure trunk pipeline.

Says GSPC managing director D J Pandian, who is also the director of GSPL: "The establishment of the gas grid through our group company, GSPL, has been the dream project of GSPC. GSPL is the only gas transmission company in India operating on the Common Carrier Principle. It is also the only state-wide gas grid to connect industrial and domestic consumers."

The project is being carried out in two phases, with the total cost being Rs 2,500 crore. Phase-I, for which an outlay of Rs 1,200 crore has been made, involves laying down 525 kilometres of pipeline. Out of this, 200 kilometres of pipelines are already under operation and maintenance.

Phase-I is further divided into two parts, Part A and Part B. Rs 900 crore have been invested in Part A and gas has reached up to Vadodara, with companies like GIPCL and GSFC already getting it through the pipeline. Part B involves the Surat-Vapi stretch. Phase II involves the Ahmedabad-to-Morbi stretch and it will cover a distance of 600 kilometres.