New R-LNG pipeline proposal from H-Energy
Mumbai-based H-Energy somehow needs to ship gas from its proposed FSRU off Digha in West Bengal to its Bangladeshi customer North West Power Generation Company (NWGPC).
With luck, nobody will object to its new proposed 275-km dedicated gas pipeline from Kanai Chatta in West Bengal to Shrirampur, also in the state, and onwards to the Bangladesh border. On February 23, the PNGRB invited comments within 15 days on whether a common carrier pipeline better serves the public interest or a dedicated one.
Estimated to cost Rs1300cr ($195m), the pipeline is designed to carry up to 7.2m cm/d of gas over 30 years. H-Energy believes its proposal has a good chance of going through as no other gas pipeline is present in the region.
Yet it's worth remembering H-Energy was forced to come up with this new idea after the PNGRB in July 2016 scrapped its old proposed 750-km project between Haldia and Contai in West Bengal and Paradip in Orissa. Unlike the common carrier Contai to Paradip proposal the new project will carry gas to only NWGPC which plans to set up a 800-MW combined cycle power station at Khulna in Bangladesh.
As this is a dedicated pipeline, H-Energy believes a long drawn-out bidding process for authorisation is not needed and that the PNGRB needs only to award a Final Acceptance Letter.