GAIL is ready to carry R-LNG from Dahej to north India

Mumbai: GAIL (India) Ltd, the country''s gas major, has readied the Dahej-Vijaipur Pipeline (DVPL) for transporting 4 million standard cubic meter of gas per day (MMSCMD) to the northern states of India.

The gas will be transported from India''s first regassified LNG (R- LNG) terminal, set up by Petronet LNG Ltd (PLL) at Dahej, Gujarat. The first phase of DVPL is awaiting commissioning for the first parcel of gas to be carried right up to New Delhi.

In January 2003, the company had set itself a stiff target of compressing the schedule of the DVPL project by as many as nine months to synchronise with the completion schedule of PLL. GAIL has already completed the Dahej-Vemar section of the DVPL ahead of schedule. At Vemar, the gas can enter the existing Hazira-Bijaipur-Jagdishpur (HBJ) gas pipeline system to reach up to Delhi.

PLL is expecting the first LNG cargo to reach the Indian shores by the end of January 2004. The first year of operation will see 2.5 million tonnes of LNG flowing in the DVPL pipeline, which is equivalent to approximately 10 MMSCMD. With the expected completion of the remaining section of the DVPL pipeline up to Vijaipur in Madhya Pradesh by 26 January 2004, the 42" diameter, 610 km pipeline system will be ready to evacuate the entire quantity of up to 10 MMSCMD of gas from PLL, Dahej.

GAIL''s DVPL is a part of the national gas grid network, which involves developing a nationwide trunk pipeline network of over 8,000 kilometres. GAIL is one of the JV partners of PLL and will be marketing 60 per cent of the R-LNG to the Indian gas customers. The DVPL pipeline shall cater to the needs of the supply constrained power, fertiliser, industrial, automotive (CNG) and domestic segments in the western and northern markets along the HBJ corridor.

The DVPL pipeline provides ''third-party access'' (TPA) to Indian Oil Corporation (IOC) and Bharat Petroleum Corporation Ltd (BPCL), the other two companies that have the marketing rights for the sale of remaining 40 per cent of the R-LNG from Dahej in the domestic market.