Gail Furthers Ambitious East India Gas Pipe

State-owned Gail has begun work on a natural gas pipeline, part of Jagdishpur-Haldia & Bokaro-Dhamra Natural Gas Pipeline (JHBDPL) project, in the eastern Indian state of West Bengal for providing gas to Matix Fertilizers, Durgapur, it said January 29.

As part of the JHBDPL project, a 555-km long pipeline costing an estimated rupees 27bn ($420mn) in West Bengal will pass through eight districts. Further project activities for a pipeline in the state up to Haldia and city gas distribution in Kolkata are also expected soon.

The 2,655-km JHBDPL project was inaugurated in July 2015 and is in full swing, Gail said. The pipeline will pass through the states of Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, Jharkhand, West Bengal and Odisha.

Phase one consists of pipeline network from Phulpur to Dobhi with spurlines to Varanasi, Gorakhpur, Patna and Barauni (755 km) and is scheduled to be completed by December. Phase two of the project beyond Dobhi (Gaya) towards Durgapur Haldia and Bokaro – Ranchi and Angul – Dhamra (1,900 km) is scheduled to be completed in further stages by December 2020.

The pipeline will supply gas to fertilizer and power plants, refineries, steel plants and other industries. The project will also provide clean energy to households and transportation in the cities en-route the pipeline. The city gas network laying activity in Varanasi, Bhubaneswar, Ranchi and Cuttack has already started and activities in other cities namely Patna and Jamshedpur will start by next month.