Reliance Gas wins licence for coal gas pipeline

Reliance Gas Pipelines Ltd (RGPL) has won a licence to lay 312-km pipeline to transport coal gas (CBM) produced from its parent Reliance Industries' Sohagpur block in Madhya Pradesh. Petroleum and Natural Gas Regulatory Board (PNGRB) on July 11 authorised the Mukesh Ambani-led RGPL, a subsidiary of Reliance Industries (RIL), to lay the pipeline from Shahdol in Madhya Pradesh to Phulpur near Allahabad in Uttar Pradesh. The pipeline will have a capacity to transport 4.3 million standard cubic metres per day (mmscmd) of gas, including 0.875 mmscmd capacity that will be available for any third party for open access on non-discriminatory basis. PNGRB said in the authorisation order that the pipeline will travel from Shahdol to JaysingNagar-Beohari-Gurh and culminate at Phulpur. At Phulpur, the pipeline may be hooked into state-owned gas utility GAIL India Ltd's main Hazira-Vijaypur-Jagdishpur (HVJ) trunk gas pipeline. Connection with HVJ would enable gas to flow to any consumer. RIL plans to produce 3.5 mmscmd of gas from its Sohagpur (east) and Sohagpur (west) coal-bed methane (CBM) blocks in Shahdol, Madhya Pradesh from 2015. "The entity (RGPL) is allowed a maximum period of 36 months from the date of issue of authorisation letter for commissioning of the natural gas pipeline project," PNGRB said in the July 11 authorisation letter. "Any failure on the part of the entity in complying with the targets prescribed in the time schedule shall lead to consequences" including cancellation of the authorisation, it said. RGPL has furnished a performance bond of Rs 13.02 crore as a guarantee for timely commissioning of the project. The authorisation comes months after Ambani's privately owned Reliance Gas Transportation Infrastructure Ltd (RGTIL) lost its permits for laying four natural gas pipelines, over inordinate delays in construction of the 2,175-km lines. Orders cancelling authorisation issued to RGTIL for laying of four pipelines from Kakinada in Andhra Pradesh to Howrah in West Bengal, Chennai and Tuticorin in Tamil Nadu and Mangalore in Karnataka were issued in October last year. PNGRB in the July 11 authorisation letter said 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 utilisation of funds."

Reliance Gas wins licence for coal gas pipeline

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