Financial Daily from THE HINDU group of publications
Tuesday, Nov 23, 2004
Financial Daily from THE HINDU group of publications Tuesday, Nov 23, 2004 |
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Corporate
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Announcements Reliance keen on bringing gas to Bengal from K-G find Pratim Ranjan Bose
Kolkata. Nov. 22 THE impasse over ownership issues regarding the inter-State natural gas grid has taken its toll on GAIL (India) Ltd's proposal to bring gas to Eastern India. While the Union Ministry for Petroleum and Natural Gas is reportedly yet to clear the proposed Jagdishpur-Haldia pipeline, Reliance Industries is negotiating a similar proposal for bringing natural gas to this part of the country. The West Bengal Minister for Commerce and Industry, Mr Nirupam Sen, on Monday told Business Line that Reliance had proposed bringing gas from its Krishna-Godavari find to West Bengal. Asked whether the State Government would ask the UPA Government to clear the proposal of GAIL (India), Mr Sen said, "Reliance has also expressed its interest in bringing natural gas to West Bengal. We are about to make a comparative study of the two and will be taking up the issue with the Union Government". The State Government has already prepared a demand estimate for natural gas in the State and has placed it before the Union Ministry. Observers are keenly watching the entry of Reliance into the gas scenario in West Bengal, especially in view of the fact that GAIL (India) has already done some spadework on establishing its presence here. At a media conference in Kolkata on August 9, GAIL (India) had announced the firming up of plans to invest close to Rs 4,500 crore in building the 870-km gas grid, connecting Bengal to Jagdishpur in Uttar Pradesh. The project in turn would have linked the State with the Hazira-Bijapur-Jagdishpur and Dahej-Hazira pipelines. Commissioning of the project was scheduled to begin in October 2004 and completed some time in 2006. The project was estimated to supply 20-million cubic metre natural gas per day to this region and was one of the 15 limbs of the national grid originally proposed by GAIL (India) to retain a monopoly over the inter-State pipelines. The company had already prepared the detailed feasibility report and route-survey on the Jagdishpur-Haldia pipeline. Apart from the Jagdishpur-Haldia pipeline, it was also working on investment proposals for importing natural gas through pipelines from Myanmar and taking over the controlling stake in a virtually defunct State undertaking, Greater Calcutta Gas Supply Corporation. The company was set up for supplying cooking gas in the city.
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