Two major pipeline projects are in the works in the northeast, which produce 20 per cent of the country’s natural gas output of 75 million metric standard cubic metres per day(mmscmd).

Assam, Arunachal Pradesh and Tripura have established gas production potential in the region, while Manipur and Nagaland are believed to have substantial reserves.

Duliajan Numaligarh Pipeline Limited has proposed a 500km natural gas pipeline from Duliajan to Chandrapur near Guwahati through Jorhat, Golaghat, Karbi Anglong and Nagaon in the state.

DNP operates a dedicated pipeline supplying natural gas to the Numaligarh refinery.

The company said there was a huge business opportunity of around 5.5mmscmd with a pipeline which needs to target the city gas distributors and other bulk consumer industries at Bokajan, Diphu, Lumding, Hojai, Lanka, Nagaon, Morigaon and onwards to Chandrapur near Guwahati.

The pipeline can also be connected to the IGGL Phase-I pipeline near Borpothar (Golaghat district in Assam).

It can connect to the new gas sources along the route in Dibrugarh and Sibsagar districts.

DNP is also looking at sourcing gas from other players in the region such as HaEC, Oil Max and Vedanta.

ONGC project

Oil and Natural Gas Corporation and Indradhanush Gas Limited (IGGL) have signed pacts to transport natural gas from ONGC’s gas fields in Jorhat, Silchar and Tripura to the demand centres and capital cities of all the eight northeastern states for which IGGL is laying a 1,656km pipeline — the NEGG (North East Gas Grid) project.

It has set a target of completing 70 per cent of its work in this fiscal and the entire project by March 31, 2024. The committed amount for the project in the current fiscal is Rs 3,929 crore.

The Petroleum and Natural Gas Regulatory Board (PNGRB) has said it is initiating the consultation process for the geographical areas (GAs) spread across the regions for building natural gas pipelines, as part of the 12th bidding round for city gas distribution projects.

The geographical area are Arunachal Pradesh, Meghalaya, Manipur, Mizoram, Nagaland and Sikkim.

The government has set a target to increase the share of natural gas in the energy mix to 15 per cent by 2030 from around 6.3 per cent. This includes expanding the country’s national gas grid to about 33,500 km.