6,900 km gas pipelines to connect Bangladesh, Myanmar, India

The government has ambitious plan to lay 6,900 km of gas pipelines linking Bangladesh, Myanmar, most north-eastern states, and West Bengal, ONGC Executive director S.C. Soni said here.

“As part of Hydrocarbon Vision 2030 for North-eastern region, 6,900 km pipelines would be laid connecting Sitwe (Myanmar), Chittagong (Bangladesh), most north-eastern states, Siliguri and Durgapur,” Soni told reporters on Saturday.

Currently, large quantities of gas is flared (burned) in the north-eastern region because it can’t be piped to the consumers, he said.

“The policy related to sale of gas from small and isolated gas fields is more inclined to the seller side. So, ONGC and Oil India Ltd are not able to sell the gas, which is flared now.”

The plan is to carry the gas elsewhere for productive purposes, Soni said.

Bangladesh Petroleum Corporation (BPC) and Indian Oil Corporation (IOC) signed an agreement in April this year to jointly set up a Liquefied Petroleum Gas (LPG) terminal plant in Chittagong port city which will help pipe gas to the north-eastern states.

There is also a sale-purchase agreement between Numaligarh Refinery Ltd (NRL) in Assam and BPC for construction of a pipeline from Siliguri in West Bengal to Parbatipur in Bangladesh for supply of High Speed Diesel (HSD) to the neighbouring country, Soni said.

This agreement figured in talks in June last year between Indian PM Narendra Modi and Bangladesh PM Sheikh Hasina. The two leaders directed the officials of their countries to finalise the terms for establishment of a joint venture company which will construct and operate the pipeline.

ONGC has also planned to set up a Rs 5,000 crore fertiliser plant in Tripura in association with the state government and Chambal Fertilisers and Chemicals Ltd.

“We will drill at least 12 gas wells in northern Tripura to feed gas to the proposed fertiliser plant,” Soni added.