Reliance Gas Pipeline Limited (RGPL), a subsidiary of Reliance Industries Limited (RIL) has been granted license for constructing a 312-km pipeline from Petroleum and Natural Gas Regulatory Board (PNGRB). The pipeline will be used to transport coal gas produced from RIL’s Sohagpur block in Madhya Pradesh.
Mukesh Ambani led RGPL has been authorized to lay the pipeline from Shahdol in Madhya Pradesh to Phulpur near Allahabad in Uttar Pradesh. The regulatory board sanctioned the license rights on 11th July. In the authorization letter, the path way for the pipeline has been mentioned. The pipeline will commence from Shahdol and culminate at Phulpur including areas like JaySingNagar, Beohari and Gurh. Furthermore from Phulpur, the same pipeline will meet with state-owned gas facility GAIL India Limited’s main Hazira- Vijaypur- Jagdishpur trunk gas pipeline. RIL envisions producing 3.5 mmscmd of gas from its Sohagpur (east) and Sohagpur (west) coal-bed methane (CBM) blocks in Shahdol, Madhya Pradesh from 2015.
The pipeline will have a capacity to transport 4.3 million metric standard cubic meters per day (mmscmd) of gas, out of which 0.875 mmscmd of gas will be available for any third party for open access on non-discriminatory basis. The connection of the pipeline to Hazira-Vijaypur-Jagdishpurtraunkgas line would enable consumers to get the gas.
“The entity (RGPL) is allowed a maximum period of 36 months from the date of issue of authorization letter for commissioning of the natural gas pipeline project,” said the PNGRB authorization letter dated 11 July. RGPL has already furbished a performance bond amounting to Rs 13.2 crore as a guarantee for timely commission of the project. The letter also mentioned that RGPL shall be required to take prior approval from the Board for “creation of any lien or charge or hypothecation on the assets of the natural gas pipeline to secure finances for the project and furnish details of utilization of funds.”
This is not the first time that RIL has won license to construct pipeline. Previously, MukeshAmbani owned Reliance Gas Transportation Infrastructure Limited (RGTIL) had won license to lay four natural gas pipelines. These pipelines stretched from Kakinada in Andhra Pradesh to Howrah in West Bengal, Chennai and Tuticorin in Tamil Nadu and Manglore in Karnataka in last October.