The Hindu Business Line : GAIL keen on national grid project: CMD

GAIL (India) Ltd is keen on the national gas grid project and has already completed roughly 20 per cent of the 8,500-9,000 km of pipeline required, but the completion of the project depends on gas availability and sourcing and no timeframe can be fixed, according to Mr S.P Rao, Chairman and Managing Director.

At a press meet here on Friday, he said that GAIL had invested Rs 5,500 crore or so on the project so far, laying pipelines from Dahez to Uran and from Uran to Dabhol, and work on the remaining sectors could be taken up, as and when gas would be available.

"The production from the ONGC wells is on the decline, and the private players, such as Reliance, will start producing gas from the Krishna-Godavari basin only from 2008 or so. We are waiting for these companies to get into action.

"We will take up work on the remaining sections," he explained. The total cost of the gas grid project would be roughly Rs 18,000-20,000 crore.

During the current year, he said, GAIL would spend Rs 3,300 crore on pipelines (1,500 km) and on the whole, during the five-year period (2007-2012), Rs 12,000 crore would be spent on laying pipelines.

Overseas Ventures

Mr Rao said the company was also keen on overseas ventures and was making all attempts to import LNG from Myanmar and Iran.

"Of course, the Iran-India pipeline has run into difficulties due to geo-political problems, as it has to run through Afghanistan and Pakistan, but we have not given up on it yet. The Government is still pursuing it," he said.

He said the company would be spending roughly Rs 1,000 crore on the foreign ventures during the next five years, including a proposed gas cracker plant in Iran.

He said that GAIL was producing 1.2 million tonnes of LPG, but was selling it in bulk to the oil companies.

"We are trying to enter the retail market and we are awaiting the Government approval," he added.