GAIL (India) Ltd. has begun operations of its 1,000-km Dabhol-Bengaluru pipeline, supplying the city of Bengaluru with 16 million cu m/day of natural gas. GAIL and Karnataka Power Corp. Ltd. also concluded a gas supply agreement by which GAIL will supply KPCL’s 700-Mw Bidadi electric power plant with 2.1 million cu m/day starting in the next 30 months. Initial gas supplies to Bengaluru include fuel for Toyota Kirloskar Auto Parts’ 6½-Mw electric power plant.
The pipeline passes through Belgaum, Dharwad, Gadag, Bellary, Devanagere, Chitradurga, Tumkur, Ramanagaram, Bengaluru Rural, and Bengaluru Urban, featuring crossings of 18 national highways, 382 other road crossings, 20 railway crossings, 83 cased crossings, and 276 water body crossings including what GAIL describes as Asia’s largest river crossing in rocky terrain at Ghatprabha. It crosses a 25-km forest reserve area and 10 other major rivers. The project also involved laying 73 km of 18-in. OD pipeline in the city of Bengaluru.
GAIL last month commissioned the 5 million tonne/year Dabhol LNG terminal at Ratnagiri, Maharashtra, about 210 miles south of Mumbai. GAIL expects to expand the terminal to 10 million tpy within 3 years (OGJ Online, Jan. 22, 2013).