Visakhapatnam: Natural gas line work to start from December
Visakhapatnam: The AP Gas Distribution Corporation is gearing up to award work for laying a 307-km natural gas pipe-line that runs through four districts from Kakinada to Srikakulam. The tenders will be opened in the first week of December and the work will be awarded at end of the month. The APGDC is waiting for the Petroleum and Natural Gas Regulatory Bo-ard’s nod to go ahead on another pipeline from Kakinada to Nellore that runs through the capital region. The Kakinada- Nellore gas pipeline will be around 500 km long.
Both the pipelines are part of the state government’s gas grid project and an attempt to tap the huge gas reserves available in the KG basin. APGDC is a subsidiary of the Andhra Pradesh Gas Infrastructure Corporat-ion, which has been entrusted with the task of laying both the trunk lines of natural gas and also the city gas distribution networks. The aim of the natural gas pipelines is to connect every industry, domestic household, and commercial establishment with the piped gas network.
According to government estimates, the total natural gas consumption in the country is of 34 billion cubic metres in 2013-14, while the erstwhile st-ate of AP consumed about 1.16 bcm of natural gas the same year. The fertilizer sector accounted for the largest share of consumption in the country at over 32.5 per cent followed by the power sector with over 31 per cent. In AP, around 3,790 MW of gas-based power plants were either proposed or are existing at present.
“Industrial and City Gas Distribution Sector, CNG sale for automobiles, piped natural gas for households and commercial establishments and industrial customers are expected to drive up dem-and for natural gas in the state. Positively by Dece-mber-end, the work on Kakinada and Srikak-ulam will be awarded and work would begin on the other pipeline from Kakinada to Nellore. We are awaiting a final nod from PGNRB after which we will complete other formalities,” said Mr Ajay Jain APGDC chairman and ener.
