The expression of interest submitted by Adani Total Private Limited (ATPL) to the upstream regulator PNGRB to lay, build, operate or expand the natural gas pipeline from Haldia to Panitar faces opposition from H-Energy.

H-Energy, which has been awarded the Kanai Chatta Srirampur Pipeline (KSPL) by PNGRB, said the proposed pipeline would be a duplication of infrastructure, thereby raising costs for consumers.

Adani in its EoI had stated that the proposed pipeline will be connected to Jagdishpur-Haldia and Bokaro-Dhamra Pipeline (JHBDPL) and supply in demand centres in Bengal (Calcutta, Howrah, Dum Dum, Kolaghat). The end point of the pipeline is Panitar (near Indo-Bangla Border).

From here the pipeline may be connected to the gas grid of western Bangladesh facilitating supply of natural gas across borders.

However, H-Energy said: “PNGRB had held that there was no requirement for multiple pipelines from Kukrahati to Itinda or Contai-Dattapulia-Jajpur-Dhamra-Cuttack-Paradip, (when) it had invited bids on laying of KSPL pipeline.

“Considering the view of the board on an earlier occasion that it would be impractical to have multiple pipelines in the same area and would lead to infructuous investment and suboptimal utilisation of resources, the same logic should apply to the subject EOI by ATPL.”

H-Energy said the injection point and delivery point of the indicative route of the natural gas pipeline proposed by ATPl, i.e. Haldia and Panitar, respectively, are proximate to the injection and delivery points of the proposed KIPl, i.e. Kukrahati and Itinda.

Further, the natural gas pipeline proposed by ATPl runs parallel to, and even crosses into the tariff zone of the KSPl pipeline being developed by Hooghly Pipelines Private Limited (HPPl), a subsidiary of H-Energy.

The JHBDPL natural gas pipeline, which is part of Pradhan Mantri Urja Ganga Gas Pipeline initiative, is being developed to connect the eastern and north-eastern part of India with the national natural gas transmission network.