GAIL nears completion of 2,000-mile natural gas pipeline network

GAIL (India) Ltd. has completed laying more than 97.6% of its Jagdishpur-Haldia-Bokaro-Dhamra natural gas pipeline (JHBDPL) network, delivering gas to eastern and northeastern parts of India. Commercial operations are under way on 96.6% of the line, including sections connecting Phulpur-Dobhi-Bokaro-Durgapur, Bokaro-Angul-Dhamra, and Dobhi-Barauni-Guwahati.

The integrated JHBDPL—including the Barauni-Guwahati pipeline—runs 3,306 km (2,054 miles) through Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, Jharkhand, Odisha, West Bengal, and Assam and is carrying 12.26 million standard cu m/day. It supplies four fertilizer plants, two refineries (Indian Oil Corp.’s Barauni and Paradip plants), industrial consumers, and 32 city gas distribution (CGD) networks including Varanasi, Patna, Ranchi, Jamshedpur, Bhubaneshwar, Cuttack, and Kolkata.

IOC 3 years ago began the process of expanding capacity at Barauni to 9 million tonnes/year (tpy) from 6 million tpy, with completion expected by December 2025. The company last year let a contract to Univation Technologies LLC for licensing a major downstream derivatives unit to be included as part of a proposed petrochemical complex its developing near its 15-million tpy Paradip refinery (OGJ Online, Sept. 17, 2024). 

GAIL has completed 132 km of the 294-km Durgapur-Haldia section and has put the 132-km section into Kolkata in commercial operation. The company is also laying the 240-km Dhamra-Haldia, having completed 198 km. Limited access to rights-of-way has delayed completion of Durgapur-Haldia and Dhamra-Haldia Section to December 2025 from March 2025.

Once these sections are complete, GAIL will transport gas to IOC’s 8-million tpy Haldia refinery, CGDs for Howrah, Hooghly, Purba Medinipur, and Paschim Medinipur, and other industrial customers.