Entire AP coast to have natural gas pipeline soon

New Delhi: It is only a matter of time before the entire coastal belt of Andhra Pradesh is connected with the natural gas pipeline project thanks to the speeding up of the work by the Union ministry. According to the minister of state for petroleum and natural gas, Rameswar Teli, who in a written reply to a question in the Lok Sabha on Thursday, informed the House that with the aim to increase the share of natural gas in the primary energy mix, there was focus on developing the natural gas infrastructure in the country and to implement 'One Nation One Gas Grid'. Andhra Pradesh stands to benefit in this segment soon.

Petroleum and Natural Gas Regulatory Board (PNGRB), which is the body to authorise the development of pipelines, authorised 33,500 km natural gas pipeline network across the country. Out of this, 21,715 km natural gas pipelines were operational and a total of 13,605 km length of pipelines were under various stages of construction.

Among these pipelines, Kakinada-Vizag-Srikakulam, Kakinada-Vijayawada-Nellore (this will be connected to the Ennore-Nellore line further) and Srikakulam-Angul (in Odisha) fall under common carrier gas pipelines which ensure the connectivity of entire coastal belt.

Vijayawada-Hyderabad line which falls under the Kakinada-Vijayawada-Hyderabad-Uran-Ahmedabad covers the rest of the areas in Andhra Pradesh. Vijayawada-Hyderabad line is fully operational, the minister said.

Expansion of pipeline infrastructure was a continuous effort based on gas demand assessment of various regions. The projects were being undertaken as per the timelines approved by the Petroleum and Natural Gas Regulatory Board (PNGRB), Rameswar Teli clarified ruling out delays in the project timelines.

The pipelines have the required sanctions and clearances from all authorities, including the National Highways Authority of India (NHAI). Permissions for some of the segments have been obtained as early as 2019 itself.