Natural gas supply to all NE States in three years: Oil India Limited (OIL)

Natural gas supply to all NE States in three years: Oil India Limited (OIL)

* Five major oil and natural gas companies launch a joint venture to implement Rs 6000 crore gas supply project in next three years

* Guwahati metro areas to be provided piped gas by 2021

STAFF REPORTER

GUWAHATI, Aug 4: In a significant step towards bringing multiple benefits including industrialization to the North Eastern region, five major oil and natural gas companies have launched a joint venture company to supply natural gas to all NE States through Guwahati.

OIL, ONGC, Numaligarh Refinery Limited (NRL), Indian Oil Corporation Limited (IOCL) and GAIL recently launched a joint venture company to develop, build, operate and maintain the proposed Natural Gas Pipeline Grid connecting Guwahati to the other major North-Eastern cities and major load centres such as Numaligarh Refinery and integrating it with gas producing fields, wherever feasible, in the region.

Chairman & Managing Director of OIL Utpal Bora told reporters here on Saturday that the ambitious scheme connecting all NE State capitals with Guwahati through a 1500 kilometer-long gas pipeline is expected to be implemented within the next three years.

“While the gas pipeline from Barauni in Bihar to Guwahati involved setting up of the pipeline of 700 km at an estimated cost of Rs 4,500 crore, the North Eastern Gas Pipeline project would see setting up of 1,500 km of pipelines at an estimated cost of Rs 6,000 crore,” Bora said.

He said connecting Guwahati with the National Gas Grid through a pipeline from Barauni and connecting the capitals of NE States with the gas pipeline are two major projects being implemented to bring about a sea change in different fields including industrialization.

Bora said while work for the gas pipeline from Barauni to Guwahati has already started, the joint venture company will start executing the project for connecting all the capital of north-eastern states through a gas pipeline from Guwahati at an early date.

In another development, the OIL CMD said households in Guwahati metro area (which involves Guwahati and some other neighbouring areas) are likely to be provided piped gas within the next three years.

“Recently there were bid for distribution of piped gas in Guwahati Metro areas and Silchar, Karimganj and Hailakandi areas. We have bid for the project and we are hopeful that we will be successful in our bid. If awarded to us, piped gas service can be started in Guwahati within next three years time,” Bora said, adding that along with piped gas distribution, the OIL also plans to set up some CNG stations in Guwahati which will help tackle the pollution in and around the city.

Asked about the new discoveries of OIL, Bora said that the company has been awarded nine new blocks in India, which includes seven blocks in North East and one each in Rajasthan and the Krishna Godavari (KG) basin. He said that the OIL has recorded an impressive growth of 72.27 percent in terms of production in the 2017-18 with a turnover of Rs 2,667.93 crore compared to 2016-17 which was Rs 1,548.68 crore.

According to Bora, the turnaround of crude oil production was achieved despite the fact that the majority of the oilfields under his company are 50 to 60 years old and almost reached the saturation point. Besides the dedication and sincerity of all employees of the company, the OIL CMD attributed the use of innovative technologies to the rise in crude production. Enhanced Oil Recovery (EOR) methodology to extract more oil from aging fields to enhance production of crude is also being planned, he said.

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