GAIL to invest over Rs 45,000 crore to create infrastructure for National Gas Pipeline Grid

Ashutosh Karnatak, Chairman of GAIL India has said that the company has planned to invest over Rs 45,000 crore over the next five years to expand the National Gas Pipeline Grid and city gas distribution network to help push for greater use of environment-friendly fuel.

The gas pipelines are planned to take the fuel to the east and northeast regions as well as to consumers in the south as part of the government push to raise the share of natural gas in India's energy basket to 15 per cent by 2030 from the current 6.2 per cent. GAIL's push for the creation of infrastructure is in line with Prime Minister Narendra Modi's vision of creating a gas-based economy that is less reliant on polluting fuels for meeting its energy needs.

GAIL currently operates 12,160-km of pipeline network and markets two-thirds of all-natural gas sold in the country. It is currently executing more than 5,500 kilometers of pipeline projects and a similar length is at the planning stage. Karnatak said the projects at hand include the ambitious Urja Ganga Project to take gas to Bihar, West Bengal, Odisha, and Jharkhand as well as Kochi-Koottanad-Bangalore-Mangalore line and the Indradhanush North East Gas Grid. These pipelines will connect supply and demand centers envisaged under the National Gas Grid. Besides pipelines, GAIL is also expanding city gas distribution (CGD) networks for retailing of CNG to automobiles and piped natural gas to household kitchens. Investments are also planned for the expansion of petrochemical plants.

GAIL is looking to put up 400 CNG stations and give out a record 10 lakh piped natural gas (PNG) connections to household kitchens in the next 3-5 years. The company is building a 2,655-km gas pipeline from Jagdishpur in Uttar Pradesh to Haldia in West Bengal, Bokaro in Jharkhand and Dhamra in Odisha.