Natural gas transmission and the National Gas Grid
Transmission is the core of the business. GAIL owns the Hazira-Vijaipur-Jagdishpur cross country pipeline, about 2,300 kilometres long with a capacity to handle 33.4 million cubic metres of gas a day, and it has extended that spine over the years to more than 11,000 kilometres of inter provincial pipelines serving 22 states. As of 31 December 2021 the operational network was about 13,800 kilometres against India's total of about 20,334 kilometres, a share of over 67 per cent.[1]
The next big piece is the Jagdishpur to Haldia line, sold as the Urja Ganga project. It was planned as a 2,050 kilometre line between Jagdishpur in Uttar Pradesh and Haldia in West Bengal, and it was later reconfigured so that Varanasi joins the national grid and the line reaches the Dhamra terminal in Odisha, which is longer than 2,500 kilometres and is being built in three phases. Phase I runs 755 kilometres from Phulpur to Dobhi with spurs to Barauni and Patna at a cost of about 3,200 crore rupees, Phase II adds about 1,200 kilometres from Dobhi to Bokaro, Ranchi, Angul and Dhamra at about 5,565 crore rupees, and Phase III lays about 583 kilometres to Haldia at about 3,425 crore rupees.[4]
The company has also been authorised to build the 1,755 kilometre Mumbai to Nagpur to Jharsuguda pipeline, and it is building about 6,000 kilometres of its own pipelines plus about 2,000 kilometres through two joint ventures as its part of the National Gas Grid. Gas transmission makes money on a regulated tariff, so the return depends less on the gas price and more on whether the volumes actually flow.[1]
In September 2021 the company was reported to be exploring the monetisation of the Dabhol to Bengaluru and Dahej to Uran to Panvel to Dabhol pipelines through an infrastructure investment trust, with the proceeds meant for further network expansion. The proposal needed the agreement of more than one ministry, which is why it moved slowly.[5]
