GAIL plans repairs at snapped gas pipeline
Desperate GAIL is scrambling to complete emergency repair work on the Dahej to Uran (DUPL) gas pipeline to prevent disruption in gas supplies to south Gujarat and Maharashtra.
When the Narmada River in Gujarat flooded on August 25, part of the 510-km R-LNG pipeline was washed away. GAIL is expected to issue a tender this month (September) to replace a three-km damaged stretch of the pipeline that connects the 10m t/y Dahej LNG terminal with Uran in Maharashtra.
Repairs should take three months. “Yes the pipeline snapped badly and we must lay a new pipeline stretch,” confirms GAIL.
“We will use horizontal directional drilling to lay the pipeline from the northern to the southern bank of the Narmada.” GAIL, he adds, is working closely with the Bharuch District Collector's office and Gujarat Pollution Control Board (GPCB) on planned repairs.
“We need to work fast to repair the damage,” we hear. GAIL's pipeline was damaged near Bhadbhut on the northern bank of the Narmada River, 35-km east of Dahej.
“There was a deafening sound following the release of hissing gas from the ruptured pipeline in the riverbed,” a local resident tells us. “We thought a Tsunami was coming!” Interestingly, the flood does not seem to have damaged other pipelines just 500 metres away including one used by Reliance Industries.
The 30-inch diameter, 387-km Dahej to Uran trunk pipeline can carry 12m cm/d and has spur lines with 4-inch to 24-inch diameters.