Alibag (Maharashtra), February 12, 2009:- GAIL (India) Limited today commissioned the 30” dia, 50 km Ambewadi – Usar pipeline. Dr. U. D. Choubey, Chairman and Managing Director, GAIL commissioned the pipeline connecting tap-off point at Ambewadi on the Panvel – Dabhol pipeline of GAIL (which provides gas to Dabhol power plant) to the existing pipeline of GAIL in the Usar region. Shri Santosh Kumar, Director (Projects), other senior officials of GAIL and senior representatives of various gas customers in the region were also present on the occasion.

Speaking on the occasion, Dr. U. D. Choubey, CMD, GAIL said that with the commissioning of this pipeline, the customers in the Usar region will not only benefit from transport redundancy but will also gain from an additional source of gas supply. The supply of natural gas to customers in this region was constrained by the availability of APM gas in the region.

The new pipeline will enable supply of RLNG to various customers in Usar region such as RCF, Thal, Ispat Industries Limited, Vikram Ispat, HR Johnson, Supreme and NITCO. Out of these, Supreme and NITCO are new customers, whereas other companies are presently taking APM gas available from Thal. However, these companies will now benefit from additional availability of natural gas in the form of RLNG.

GAIL has already commissioned 30", 590 km Dahej - Uran and Dabhol Panvel Pipeline Phase I, DUPL spur lines in Kalyan, Turbhe and Taloja area and 30", 70 km Korgaon – Pune pipelines to supply natural gas to various customers in the region. Presently, pipeline projects to provide connectivity to TATA Power and HPCL are under progress.

GAIL owns and operates a network of around 7000 km of Natural Gas high pressure trunk pipeline with a capacity to carry 148 MMSCMD of natural gas across the country.

GAIL is implementing projects to lay additional 5500 km of natural gas pipelines at an estimated investment of Rs. 20,000 crore. These would include large trunk pipelines along with smaller pipelines which would provide connectivity among trunk lines so that the Company is able to have a grid. When these pipelines are commissioned, the capacity is expected to increase from 148 MMSCMD at present to around 300 MMSCMD in 2011. New natural gas trunk pipelines being laid are 610 km Dadri – Bawana – Nangal pipeline passing through UP, Delhi, Haryana and Punjab, 310 km Chainsa – Gurgaon – Jhajjhar – Hissar pipeline passing through Haryana and Rajasthan, 876 km Jagdishpur – Haldia pipeline passing through West Bengal, Jharkhand, Bihar and U.P., 730 km Dabhol – Bangalore pipeline passing through Maharashtra and Karnataka , 840 km Kochi – Kanjirkkod – Bangalore / Mangalore pipeline passing through Kerala, Tamil Nadu and Karnataka. In addition to these, GAIL is augmenting the capacities of 3 existing pipelines, viz. Dahej (Gujarat) – Vijaipur (Madhya Pradesh) pipeline, Vijaipur (Madhya Pradesh) – Dadri (Uttar Pradesh) pipeline, Vijaipur (Madhya Pradesh) – Auraiya (Uttar Pradesh) – Jagdishpur (Uttar Pradesh) pipeline.

Dr. U. D. Choubey, Chairman and Managing Director, GAIL opening the Valve to mark the commissioning of the Ambewadi – Usar pipeline at Usar (Maharashtra).