IOC joins hand with HPCL, BPCL for country’s longest LPG pipeline project

BPCL and HPCL will take 25 per cent stake each in the Rs 9,000 crore project that involves laying of a pipeline from Kandla in Gujarat to Gorakhpur in Uttar Pradesh, the companies said in separate but almost identical regulatory filings. IOC, which had in 2016 proposed laying of the pipeline, will hold the remaining 50 per cent stake.
“IOC, BPCL, and HPCL have signed an agreement on June 3, 2019, for the formation of a joint venture company for the implementation and subsequent operation by 2757-km long LPG pipeline from Kandla, Gujarat to Gorakhpur, UP,” the filings said.
LPG will be imported at Kandla and some sourced from oil refineries on the west coast will be moved up north via Ahmedabad (in Gujarat), Ujjain, Bhopal (in Madhya Pradesh), Kanpur, Allahabad, Varanasi, and Lucknow (in Uttar Pradesh).
The pipeline will carry 6 million tonnes per annum of LPG.
This will be the longest LPG pipeline in the country. State-owned gas utility GAIL currently operates a 1,415-km line from Jamnagar in Gujarat to Loni near here. The line carries 2.5 million tonnes of LPG annually. GAIL also has a 623-km Vizag-Secunderabad pipeline. IOC also has a 274-km pipeline from Panipat in Haryana to Jalandhar.