GAIL of India said in a statement that the gas supply to the city of Bengaluru has commenced. The ‘gas-in’ for Bengaluru city from the Dabhol-Bengaluru pipeline constructed by GAIL was done by Dr. M Veerappa Moily, Minister for Petroleum and Natural Gas.
A Gas Transmission Agreement was also signed between GAIL and Karnataka Power Corporation Limited (KPCL) in the presence of the Minister. He also laid the Foundation Stone for construction of natural gas pipeline to Chikaballapur.
The Minister also commenced the gas supply from GAIL’s Dabhol-Bengaluru pipeline to industries in the state. Gas supplies to Toyota Kirloskar Auto Parts for their 6.5 MW power plant have also commenced.
The gas supply to Bengaluru has been commenced from GAIL’s Dabhol-Bengaluru 1000 km pipeline constructed at an investment of Rs. 4,500 crore with a design capacity of 16 MMSCMD of natural gas.
This initiative of GAIL will bring natural gas to the people of Karnataka for the first time.
The pipeline passes through Belgaum, Dharwad, Gadag, Bellary, Devanagere, Chitradurga, Tumkur, Ramanagaram, Bengaluru Rural and Bengaluru Urban. It traverses through 18 National Highways, 382 other Road crossings, 20 Railway crossings, 83 Cased crossings and 276 Watr Body crossings including Asia’s largest river crossing in rocky terrain at Ghatprabha. The project involved laying of 73 km of 18 inch diameter pipeline in the city of Bengaluru. With only 25 km stretch passing through Reserve Forest Area, it goes through 11 major river crossings including Zuari, Shastri, Ghad and Ghatprabha.
The Gas Transmission Agreement between GAIL and KPCL provides for supply of 2.1 MMSCMD of natural gas from GAIL’s Dabhol-Bengaluru pipeline to feed KPCL’s power plant for 700 MW of power generation at Bidadi. The supplies shall begin within the next 30 months.
The Minister for Petroleum and Natural Gas also laid the foundation stone to mark the beginning of the construction of gas pipeline to Chikballapur.
[mappress] LNG World News Staff, February 18, 2013