New pipelines to cover one third of India

State-run Gujarat State Petronet Limited (GSPL) and three PSU oil majors, Indian Oil Corp Ltd, Bharat Petroleum Corp Ltd and Hindustan Petroleum Corp Ltd have signed joint venture agreements for developing three cross country natural gas transmission pipeline projects.

The agreement, worth INR 12,500 crore, marks the end of an equity tie-up for the three cross country pipeline projects: Mallavaram-Bhilwara (1585 km), Mehsana-Bhatinda (1670 km) and Bhatinda-Jammu-Srinagar (740 km), according to a GSPL official.

The pipelines will stretch seven states – Andhra Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh, Maharasthra, Haryana, Punjab, Rajasthan and Jammu and Kashmir. Cement plants, fertiliser and chemical units, as well as upcoming city gas distributors which do not have pipeline connectivity will be among those to benefit from the project.

GSPL, (with 52 per cent stake) led the consortium with IOCL (26 per cent), BPCL (11 per cent) and HPCL (11 per cent).

GSPL has already announced the financial closure for two pipeline projects, Mehsana-Bhatinda and Bhatinda- Jammu-Srinagar.

GSPL, a subsidiary of state oil and gas PSU GSPC, is India's second largest gas transmission company after GAIL.

The three pipelines are estimated to have initial capacity to carry around 95 MMCD of gas. The pipelines are due to be installed within the next three years.