Koyali to Ratlam pipeline ready in March
Indian Oil is preparing to commission a 274-km product pipeline from its 13.7m t/y refinery at Koyali in Gujarat to Ratlam in eastern Madhya Pradesh.
PETROWATCH learns the pipeline will be commissioned in March, more than two years behind schedule because of delays in environmental clearance and protests by tribal groups. Testing began on February 17, with high-speed diesel fed into the Rs224.69cr ($53m) 16-inch diameter pipeline that will carry 2m t/y of refined products from Koyali to Ratlam, from where they will be trucked to customers in central India and northwest Uttar Pradesh.
“A rail loading facility is also likely to be in place in the next 10 months,†we hear. One of the disputes that set back the original scheduled completion target of December 2006 concerned the acquisition of 67 acres of land for the Ratlam terminal and protests by tribal groups who don’t want the pipeline to pass through the heavily forested areas where they live.