Pipeline tenders worth $1bn lift economic gloom
Oil and gas pipeline projects stand out as beacons of hope to contractors in India amid the prevailing economic gloom.
EPC contractors are preparing to bid for 15 projects worth an impressive Rs5250cr ($1bn). Tenders from state-owned GAIL, Hindustan Petroleum, Bharat Petroleum, IndianOil, Oil India, ONGC, GSPC, and Indian Strategic Petroleum Reserve (ISPRL) are already out, with bids expected before March 31 next year.
Most interest is on GAIL’s proposed EPC tender for a 16-inch diameter, 1200-km LPG pipeline from Jamnagar in Gujarat to Loni near Delhi. GAIL’s board is likely to approve the estimated Rs3500cr ($700m) project shortly.
Equally promising is the GSPC-promoted 1670-km gas pipeline from Mehsana in Gujarat to Bhatinda in Punjab. GSPC wants bids in by March next year to lay the estimated Rs600cr ($120m) pipeline with 36-inch, 30-inch, 18-inch and 12-inch diameters.
IndianOil, too, has a promising project: a 12-inch diameter, 700-km LPG pipeline from its under construction Paradip refinery in Orissa to Durgapur in West Bengal, passing through Haldia. IOC wants bids in by December for the estimated Rs150cr ($27m) pipeline.
Equally large is HPCL’s tender to lay a 400-km LPG pipeline in Karnataka from Mangalore to Bangalore, passing through Hassan and Mysore. Bids are due by March 2013 for this Rs150cr project, and its 175-km gas pipeline from Kakinada to Vizag in Andhra Pradesh.
By December HPCL wants bids for its Rs130cr ($23m) petroleum products pipeline, running 438-km from Rewari in Haryana to Kanpur in Uttar Pradesh. HPCL will also invite bids by September to lay a 165-km petroleum products pipeline from Bhatinda in Punjab to Ambala in Haryana.