The Kochi-Mangaluru natural gas pipeline, worth Rs 3,000 crore was inaugurated by Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Tuesday. The 450 km pipeline is of around 12 mmscmd capacity and if the Tamil Nadu section is added then the entire line will be of 1,600 mmscmd capacity.

Manoj Jain, CMD of GAIL discussed its impact on the company.

“This portion we are connecting to Mangalore. We have started supplying gas to one of the big fertiliser plant there and we expect that the Mangalore Refinery and Petrochemicals Limited (MRPL) will also be connected very shortly,” he said.

In terms of gas volumes, he said, “We are already at the levels of the last year, we have surpassed those levels. The effect of COVID is almost gone and Q3 and Q4 are definitely going to be similar as last year or maybe slightly more than this.”

He was bullish on the capex plan going ahead. “There were some setbacks with the actual target that we set before COVID but now we are catching up and by the end of the year, we should be able to meet the entire capex target of more than Rs 5,400 crore which we have set for this year and next year in-line with the government’s vision we are also looking at significantly upping this capex.”

Crude oil at USD 50 per barrel is good for the company, he shared. “It balances our portfolio, both gas index price as well as the crude index price,” he said.

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(Edited by : Abhishek Jha)