PM to lay foundation stone of India's longest LPG pipeline on Sunday

Prime Minister Narendra Modi will on Sunday lay the foundation stone of the country's longest LPG pipeline that will cater to cooking fuel needs of a fourth of the country's population, said Petroleum Minister Dharmendra Pradhan.

State-owned Indian Oil Corp (IOC) is laying an LPG pipeline from Gujarat coast to Gorakhpur in eastern Uttar Pradesh to cater to growing demand for cooking gas in the country. IOC plans to import LPG at Kandla in Gujarat and move it through the 1,987-kilometre pipeline to Gorakhpur via Ahmedabad (in Gujarat), Ujjain, Bhopal (in Madhya Pradesh), Kanpur, Allahabad, Varanasi and Lucknow (in Uttar Pradesh).

"The pipeline possibly is the longest LPG (liquefied petroleum gas) pipeline in the world," Pradhan said adding the pipeline would be laid at a cost of Rs 9,000 crore.

The pipeline will carry 3.75 million tonne per annum of LPG. LPG will be fed into the pipeline at Kandla port as well as IOC's Koyali refinery in Gujarat.

This will be the biggest LPG pipeline in the country. GAIL currently operates a 1,415-km line from Jamnagar in Gujarat to Loni near here. The line carries 2.5 million tonne of LPG annually.

GAIL also has a 623-km Vizag-Secunderabad pipeline.

IOC also has a 274-km pipeline from Panipat in Haryana to Jalandhar.

"Prime Minister will on February 24 lay the foundation stone of the pipeline project that will supply LPG to 22 bottling plants along the route," he said.

IOC in its application to oil regulator Petroleum and Natural Gas Regulatory Board (PNGRB) for laying the pipeline had in 2016 stated that: "The demand for LPG is increasing consistently in recent years. Further, due to the Government of India's emphasis to make LPG - a clean and environmentally friendly fuel, available to every domestic household in the country, LPG demand is expected to increase at a much steeper rate in the coming year."