India: PM Dedicates GAIL’s Pipeline to Nation

India’s Prime Minister Dr. Manmohan Singh dedicated GAIL’s 2200 km Dahej-Vijaipur-Dadri-Bawana-Nangal-Bhatinda cross-country pipeline running through North West corridor of India today at the inaugural ceremony of 7th Asian Gas Partnership Summit at Taj Palace, Delhi.

Speaking at the summit, Dr. Manmohan Singh said: “The cross-country pipeline of GAIL stands testimony to India’s commitment to develop large infrastructure to support the growth of natural gas sector in the country.” On this occasion, Dr. Singh expressed his satisfaction and dedicatedthe pipeline project to the Nation with the wishes that its extension would soon carry the gas from TAPI pipeline into the Indian hinterland.

The pipeline project with the overall investment of Rs. 13,000 crores covers 8 states namely Gujarat, Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan, Uttar Pradesh, Haryana, Delhi (UT), Punjab and Uttarakhand. This pipeline will not only interconnectthe existing network but also meet the demand-supply gap of natural gas in the Northern region of the country. Completed in a record 45 months, it traverses 399 water bodies, 25 national highway crossings and 35 railway crossings. This project will spur industrial development across 40 industrial hubs and has the potential to energize 3500 MW of power supply, 1.8 MMTPA of Urea productions and provide cities along the pipeline network with CNG/PNG/Natural gas for industrial and domestic applications.

Putting an emphasis on the creationof a conducive fiscal environment for natural gas market in India, Dr. Manmohan Singh said, “The Indian Government has been consistently encouraging its national oil and gas companies to invest and pursue opportunities in both Indian and overseas oil and gas markets. Reciprocally, the Indian Government stands committed to provide necessary fiscal and regulatory incentives that would enhance and facilitate global investors to invest in the Indian gas-value-chain, he further added.”

Wishing the summit a grand success, Dr. Manmohan Singh said that the Asia Gas Partnership Summit has established itself as a “niche” biennial event held in India, with exclusive focus on “Natural Gas and assured to take all the possible steps to find viable solutions to meet the concerns of the energy industry.

The two-day summit on the theme ‘Evolving Dynamics of the Asian Gas Market: Challenges of Sourcing, Integration and Sustainability’ witnessed some 400 delegates and _ speakers from 15 countries across the world. The biennial event had distinguished presence of international energy bodies like IEA (International Energy Agency).

[mappress]

LNG World News Staff, March 23, 2012; Image: GAIL