Reliance Industries Ltd has won government approval for laying six petroleum product pipelines across the country to sell output from its 33 million tonnes per annum Jamnagar refinery in Gujarat.
Gas Transportation and Infrastructure Co, the RIL subsidiary, has been issued right of user (RoU) for Jamnagar-Patiala, Jamnagar-Kanpur, Goa-Hyderabad, Chennai-Bangalore, Kakinada-Vijayawada and Haldia-Ranchi product pipelines, official sources said.
Reliance, which has set up 280 petrol and diesel retailing stations in the country till now, has planned to set up 5,849 outlets all over the country and the pipelines are needed to carry fuel to the pumps from its refinery in Gujarat.
Granting the RoU, the petroleum ministry stated that throughout the life of the pipeline the first right of use for the common carrier capacity in these pipelines will be reserved for any party other than the owner of the pipeline.
"If capacity is available out of the common carrier capacity, the owner may utilise the same with the stipulation that should any other party seek transportation through common carrier capacity, the owner would vacate and make available the common carrier capacity up to the designated level immediately," said the ministry.
The permission to acquire RoU is subject to GTICL starting the pipelines within three years from the sanction date. As a surety for commissioning the projects on time, GTICL has to furnish an irrevocable bank guarantee of 2 per cent of the project outlay or Rs 200,000 per km, whichever is higher, sources said.