GSPL wins rights for laying two gas pipelines

Gujarat State Petronet Ltd (GSPL) has trounced state-owned gas utility GAIL India and a joint venture of Adani Group and Welspun to win rights for two cross-country natural gas pipelines.

A GSPL-led consortium beat GAIL to get rights to lay a 1,600-km line from Mallavaram on the east coast of Andhra Pradesh to Bhilwara in Rajasthan, official sources said.

The consortia, which also included Indian Oil, Hindustan Petroleum and Bharat Petroleum, beat Adani-Welspun combine to get rights of 740-km Bhatinda-Jammu-Srinagar line.
    
"The GSPL-led consortium bid lowest tariff for the two pipelines," a source said.
    
While bids for the Mallavaram-Bhilwara pipeline were opened by oil regulator Petroleum and Natural Gas Regulatory Board (PNGRB) on Monday, offers for Bhatinda-Jammu line were opened today.
    
Both the pipelines will cost Rs 6,000 crore each.
    
GSPL, which currently has its gas grid network only within Gujarat, holds 52 per cent interest in the consortia, IOC has 26 per cent while HPCL and BPCL have 11 per cent each.
    
Sources said the Mallavaram-Bhilwara pipeline, which will have a capacity to carry 42 million standard cubic meters of gas per day, is likely to transport gas from eastern offshore fields belonging to Reliance Industries and Gujarat State Petroleum Corp (GSPC).
    
GAIL did not bid for Bhatinda-Jammu-Srinagar pipeline.
    
PNGRB had invited bids for four cross-country natural gas pipelines - 1,600 km Mallavaram-Bhilwara, 1,670-km Mehsana- Bhatinda and 740-km Bhatinda-Jammu-Srinagar. The bids for Mehsana-Bhatinda pipeline would be opened on October 29.
    
Bids for the 1,680 km Surat-Paradip lines will be invited later, sources said adding all the pipelines would reserve one-third of the capacity for transporting gas for outside parties.