AP Gas Infrastructure Corporation (APGIC) has evinced interest in one of Reliance Gas pipeline projects between Kakinada and Howrah. It has offered to set up a 200-km mini trunk line between Kakinada and Srikakulum. APGIC is a joint venture between AP Industrial Infrastructure Corporation (APIIC) and APGenco. It focuses on upstream, midstream and downstream activities in the oil and natural gas sector.
?We have submitted an EoI to the Petroleum and Natural Gas Regulatory Board and are awaiting the directions from the board,? a senior government official said.
Besides, two more mini trunk lines have been proposed by APGIC which include Ennore to Nellore with a bypass to Tirupati and another line from Tumkur to Anantapur to facilitate better city gas distribution (CGD) network. ?With the work yet to commence on these Reliance pipelines, we proposed the mini trunk lines to accelerate the CGD network,? the official added.
The Petroleum and Natural Gas Regulatory Board (PNGRB), the regulatory board for promoting the oil and gas downstream industry, has already initiated the bidding process to develop CGD for Ranga Reddy, Medak, Nalgonda and Khammam districts in the state. The state government is keen to roll out gas pipeline supply by March 2011.
Meanwhile, Reliance Gas Transportation Infrastructure (RGTIL), a RIL group company, has come under the scanner of the Petroleum and Natural Gas Regulatory Board. The board has given an ultimatum to the company for the proposed 1,100-km pipeline from Kakinada to Haldia. ?We have sent a notice to Reliance Gas about the pipeline from Kakinada to Haldia as it has not started the project. The company has given a clarification and it will come up for hearing,? L Mansingh, chairman, Petroleum and Natural Gas Regulatory Board, said, He was in Hyderabad for a CII event on natural gas. ?RIL has given us a clarification that as the production ramps up, they would lay the pipeline. But, we made it clear that they build the network and stick to the deadline,? he said. ?Either the company has to complete the project or we will call for bids even while understanding the interest shown by the Andhra Pradesh government,? he added.
In 2007, the ministry of petroleum and natural gas had issued an authorisation to Reliance Gas Transportation Infrastructure (RGTIL) to build four pipeline networks from KG basin. Currently, RIL finished one network, which is also the country?s longest gas transportation east-west pipeline stretching from Kakinada to Bharuch in Gujarat covering 1,440 kms. Of the remaining three, RIL is expected to complete the Kakinada-Basudevpur-Haldia pipeline by 2013. According to Mansingh, the conditions laid out in the approval said that the project has to be completed within 36 months from receiving the right of way. Since it is not yet done, the board may look at some of the EoIs received for this project. So is the case with Gail for the Jagdishpur to Haldia.
Meanwhile, he advised for a uniform taxation for natural gas. ?We have recommended to the AP government to lower the tax slab to 4% or 5% as it will make gas more attractive as liquid fuel,? he said.