GAIL expects nod to start 317km Nagpur-Jabalpur pipeline soon

Nagpur: The Gas Authority of India Limited (GAIL) this week expects permissions from the Petroleum and Explosives Safety Organisation (PESO) for operationalising the 317km pipeline connecting Nagpur to Jabalpur. Sources say PESO officials may even come in a day or two, after which the segment would be ready to be gassed up.GAIL has built a 693 km gas pipeline from Mumbai to Nagpur, which runs along the Samruddhi Expressway. It is already gassed up. From Nagpur, another pipeline extends towards Jabalpur. The pipeline also extends from Nagpur till Jharsuguda in Odisha, covering a distance of 692 km towards east. This would enable supply of gas from both western and east coasts. Instead of March end as projected earlier, GAIL hopes to complete the Nagpur-Jharsuguda leg by June 31. The change was intimated to the stock exchanges this week.The pipeline till Jharsuguda has also been laid and testing continues in a 203 km segment from Nagpur to Gondia. Testing is a rigorous process, which includes filling up the pipeline with water under high pressure. Once done, a minute check through methods including ultrasound is done to ensure no unwanted particle remains in the pipe. This follows permission by PESO. The eastward pipeline is already gassed up for a distance of over 480 from Jharsuguda in Odisha till Rajnandgaon in Chhattisgarh. Once the part between Nagpur and Gondia is gassed, the entire east-west network would get operational, said sources. GAIL is sourcing gas from Dhamra port in Odisha for its eastward pipeline.