Major gas boost for Gujarat Petronet from PCPIR
Construction of a new petrochemicals investment zone in Gujarat will boost its flagging gas transmission business, believes Gujarat State Petronet.
State authorities are holding a public hearing at Dahej on July 30 to grant clearance for Phase-I of the 45,295-hectare Gujarat Petroleum, Chemicals and Petrochemical Investment Region (PCPIR). This area includes the Dahej Special Economic Zone (SEZ), site of Petronet-LNG’s regasification terminal, where potential gas customers include two ONGC-promoted projects: ONGC Petro Additions (OPaL) and a new C2/C3 petrochemical plant.
“Almost all factories in the PCPIR will need gas,” says a GSPL source. He adds the company plans to lay 500-km pipeline within the PCPIR over the next three to five years, depending upon gas demand, connected to GSPL's 2239-km state-wide gas grid through a 37-km pipeline from the ‘tap-off’ at Ankleshwar running to Vilayat village in Bharuch district within the PCPIR.
“Our gas transmission figures will rise,” adds GSPL. Recent volumes have been hit by rising LNG prices and falling D6 production.
Despite gas transmission figures dropping from 34m cm/d in 2011 to 21.07m cm/d last year, the firm’s stock has held its value as shareholders view the firm’s long-term outlook as good. “Many parts of India are still ‘naked areas’ where no pipeline has ever reached,” says a Mumbai-based analyst.
“There is immense potential for a pipeline company like GSPL."