Adani victory over GAIL with Faridabad CNG station
Private sector Adani Energy is having the last laugh in its battle with GAIL over CNG supplies to the Delhi suburb of Faridabad.
This week Adani begins retailing CNG in Faridabad, an achievement that comes after nearly two years of bitter court battles against GAIL, which had refused to supply the Gujarat-based retailer 250,000 cm/d subsidised or APM gas for its CNG plans in Faridabad. But in October last year the Supreme Court overturned GAIL’s objection and ordered the state-owned gas wholesaler to begin supplying gas to Adani as soon as possible.
Adani received the first of 250,000 cm/d of subsidised gas this week, through a 17-km pipeline from GAIL’s Chainsa terminal near Gurgaon, which will feed its CNG stations in Faridabad. “Gas started flowing into our pipeline from GAIL’s â€کtap-off’ on Tuesday (January 27),†reports Adani.
“We are now checking the pipeline and compressors at the CNG stations. Everything should be ready by Thursday (January 29).
†Adani’s first CNG station to come online is located at the Haryana Roadways Bus Depot, where two compressors can dispense 2400 cm/hour. A second CNG station in Sector 24 will match this within three days with the same capacity.
Adani has struggled to persuade GAIL to connect facilities for transmission, ever since it received a â€کNo Objection Certificate’ from the Haryana state government in August 2005, leading to the bitter Supreme Court battle that began in 2007. Ironically, Adani’s new CNG stations selling subsidised gas in Faridabad will help part GAIL-owned Indraprastha Gas, which is the only source of CNG in the Delhi region.
Beyond CNG, Adani is turning to gas-hungry industrial and residential consumers in Faridabad, where it sees demand of 250,000 cm/d in addition to the 250,000 cm/d it will soon be selling as CNG. Already in place is 48-km of steel pipelines and 110-km of polyethylene pipelines laid by Adani for its expansion to industrial and household users.