RGIPT to set up Rs 355 crore research centre in Bangalore

Rajiv Gandhi Institute of Petroleum Technology would set up a Rs 355 crore centre here to work in the field of fire and safety technologies in the oil and gas sector.

Karnataka government agreed to offer 200 acres of land to set up the centre which is expected to come up close to the airport.

"We have agreed to give the land", Chief Minister Siddaramaiah said after a meeting with Union Petroleum Minister M Veerappa Moily, who said it would be funded by his Ministry and the Institute.

Institute Director D M Reddy said the Institute has the main centre in Rai Bareli, while there is one upstream one in Assam. The Noida centre offers MBA in petroleum and energy management, and the Bangalore centre would be its fourth.

"We are going to set up Asia's first centre on fire and safety for oil and gas sector", Reddy said.

The Institute has been set up by an act of Parliament, and it's like Indian Institute of Technology, he said.

Reddy said the Institute has tied-up with Texas A&M university (Agricultural and Mechanical College), a research-intensive university, with regard to the proposed Bangalore centre.

Moily, a former Karnataka Chief Minister, said experts from overseas would frequent this proposed institute.

Meanwhile, Moily said the Gas Authority of India Limited plans to open a Regional Gas Management Centre here, which would cater to the requirements in south India. Land offered by the Karnataka government for setting up the centre is in dispute, and once some other land is offered, GAIL would start the work.

GAIL Chairman and Managing Director B C Tripathi said it's a Rs 70-80 crore project.