GAIL (India) Limited

(A GOVT. OF INDIA UNDERTAKING)

EXPRESSION OF INTEREST

FOR REVIEW OF EXISTING OPERATION & MAINTENANCE PRACTICES, GAP

ANALYSIS & COMPARISON/BENCHMARKING SOPS OF ALL GAIL OWNED NG
AND LPG PIPELINES AND ITS ASSOCIATED INSTALLATIONS ACROSS INDIA

1. INTRODUCTION:
COMPANY PROFILE

GAIL (India) Ltd is a Central Public Sector Undertaking (PSU) under the Ministry of Petroleum
&Natural Gas (MoP&NG) Government of India. After having started as a natural gas transmission
company during the late eighties, has grown organically by building large network of Natural
Gas Pipelines covering more than 10800 Km with a capacity of more than 210 MMSCMD; two LPG
Pipelines covering 2040 Km with a capacity of 3.8 MMTPA of LPG; seven gas processing plants
for production of LPG and other Liquid Hydrocarbons, with a production capacity of 1.4 MMTPA;
and a gas based integrated Petrochemical plant of 410,000 TPA polymer capacity which is being
further expanding to more than 800,000 TPA.

The Natural Gas pipeline network includes following major cross country pipelines:
i)

ii)

iii)
iv)

v)

vi)

vii)

HVJ including GREP (Hazira-Vijaipur-Jagdishpur and Gas Rehabilitation &

Expansion Project).
HVJ was commissioned in the year of 1988. Later GREP line was commissioned in
the year of 1997. Total Capacity is of 33.4 MMSCMD; Total Length including spur
lines is 3721 Kms & Outer Diameter varies from 36 to 4.
DVPL-I & II (Dahej-Vijaipur Pipeline): DVPL-I was commissioned in the year of 2004
& DVPL-II in the year of 2011. Total Capacity is of 77.9 MMSCMD; Total Length
including spur lines is 1479 Kms & Outer Diameter varies from 48 to 4.
VDPL (VIJAIPUR DADRI P/L) was commissioned in the year of 2011. Total length is
498 Kms & Outer Diameter is 48.
DAHEJ PANVEL DHABHOL P/L of capacity 19.9 MMSCMD: It was commissioned in the
year of 2007. Total length including spur lines is 873 Kms & Outer Diameter varies
from 30 to 4.
DADRI BAWANA NANGAL P/L of capacity 31 MMSCMD: It was commissioned in the
year of 2012. Total length including spur lines is 803 Kms & Outer Diameter varies
from 36 to 8.
DABHOL BANGALORE P/L of capacity 16 MMSCMD: It was commissioned in the year
of 2013. Total length including spur lines is 1004 Kms & Outer Diameter varies
from 36 to4.
Kochi-Koottanad-Bangalore-Mangalore P/L (Phase-1) of capacity 6 MMSCMD: It was
commissioned in the year of 2013. Total length is 41 Kms & Outer Diameter varies
from 30 to4.

Besides the above there are other regional pipelines spread over western, northern, southern
and eastern regions of India:
a)
b)
c)
d)
e)
f)
g)

Cauvery Basin (Tamilnadu)

KG Basin (Andhra Pradesh)
Gujarat & Rajasthan
Mumbai (Maharashtra)
Tripura
Assam
NCR (National Capital Region)

The pipeline system includes the following Compressor Stations situated at different parts of
the country:

a) Hazira (Gujarat)
b) Vaghodia (Gujarat)
c) Jhabua (Madhya Pradesh)
d) Khera (Madhya Pradesh)
e) Vijaipur (Madhya Pradesh)
f) Auraiya (Uttar Pradesh)
g) Chainsa (Uttar Pradesh)
h) Kailaras (Madhya Pradesh)

GAIL has seven Gas Processing plants situated at six different locations of the country for
recovery of value-added fractions from natural gas such as LPG, Ethane, Propane, Pentane,
and Naphtha. Five such plants are located along HVJ at Vaghodia, Gandhar, Vijaipur (02 units)
& Auraiya. In addition, GAIL is having one integrated Petrochemical Complex enrouting HVJ
pipeline at Pata (Uttar Pradesh) with production capacity of 0.44 MMTPA polymers & other
Liquid Hydrocarbons.

The LPG pipeline network includes the following:

a) JLPL system: This LPG pipeline includes various pumping stations located at Jamnagr,
Kandla, Samakhiali, Abu Road, Nasirabad, and Jaipur for transportation of LPG from
Jamnagar and Kandla (Gujarat) to Loni (Uttar Pradesh).
b) VSPL system: This LPG pipeline includes pumping station at Vizag for transportation of LPG
from Vizag (AP) to Secunderabad (AP) through G Konduru.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF PIPELINES UNDER VARIOUS JURISDICTIONS:

NCR

Presently around 1785 KMs of pipeline size 48 to 3 falls in NCR jurisdiction. There are around 96
customers and twelve maintenance bases in NCR region out of which 9 are big customers such as
NTPC, IGL, and PPCL etc. Being a national capital region to maintain uninterrupted gas supply is
must, as in capital region power supply and transportation depends upon gas supply.

After the addition of new Pipe line network of VDPL, DBNPL, CJPL etc., an Operational Philosophy
was adopted from Vijaipur Downstream (GREP, VDPL) to ensure optimal utilization of pipe line
networks by removal of NRV Flapper at Dadri on 15th March11 between VDPL and GREP network.

Vijaipur

The 36dia HVJ pipeline transport normally 30 MMSCMD natural gas and DVPL-I & DVPL-II
carries approximately 30MMSCMD of natural gas.

36dia HVJ and DVPL-I is interconnected at major locations of Vaghodia, Jhabua, Khera &
Vijaipur, whereas 42 dia DVPL-I & 48dia DVPL-II is interconnected at each & every pigging
stations.

All the gas, which is coming to Vijaipur through above mentioned pipelines are distributed to
downstream consumers via pipeline network available in the downstream of Vijaipur.
Pipeline detail of downstream to Vijaipur is given below:
18dia Vijaipur-Gadepan, 18 dia Vijaipur-Kota pipeline (VKPL)-I & II (For Rajasthan
Region) and approximately 5.5 MMSCMD gas is transported to Rajasthan Region. However,
the pipeline capacity is approximately 9MMSCMD. Thus, requirement of Rajasthan region
(in & around Kota) can easily be met by various combinations of the pipelines that is
even there is a disruption of the flow in any one of the pipeline, the consumer will not be
affected.
48dia Vijaipur-Dadri pipeline(VDPL) & 36 dia GREP (Vijaipur to Dadri) pipeline and
approximately 40 MMSCMD gas is transported to Dadri with these two pipelines.
30dia Vijaipur-Auriya pipeline and approximately 10MMSCMD gas is transported to Auriya
region for Pata petrochemical complex and after processing the gas at petrochemical
complex Pata, the processed gas is supplied to Jagdishpur through 18dia AuriyaJagdishpur pipeline and some part of the gas is also feeded in 24 dia Auriya-Babrala
pipeline. This 24dia Auriya-Babrala pipeline is extended up to Dadri.

KG BASIN

GAIL KG Basin is operating about 869 Km of natural gas pipeline network passing through 03
districts of Andhra Pradesh viz. East Godavari, West Godavari & Krishna Districts. Gas supply
is being made to 41 consumers which include Fertilizer, Power, CNG, Ceramic, Paper &
other industries. The present gas supply is about 5.71 MMSCMD. Gas is sourced from RGTIL,
Cairn & 18 installation of ONGC. The gas source / injection points are geographically
distributed in the 03 districts but bulk of the gas sourcing points are in East Godavari
District. The present source wise gas supply details are as under:
RGTIL
CAIRN Energy
ONGC

:
:
:

1.4 MMSCMD
1.1 MMSCMD
3.2 MMSCMD

The gas to customer is available at 03 different pressures HP, MP & LP. Consumers are
connected through one of these grids.

MUMBAI

GAIL (India) Ltd. Maharashtra region Pipeline Region, Mumbai operates a pipeline network
of around 791 Kms spread across Trombay, Thal, Uran, Panvel & Dabhol in and around
Mumbai & parts of the State of Maharashtra. This network presently supplies around 20.5
MMSCMD gas to about 50 customers across various industry sectors. Another about 1.0
MMSCMD gas passes through DUPL/DPPL for meeting the requirements of consumers
connected to Dabhol-Bangalore pipeline.

Depending upon the sources of gas, the pipeline network can be classified as:
Low pressure Mumbai & Thal region (APM) network consisting of about 124 Km length
pipeline network with design pressure of 49 kg/cm2 catering to the requirement of
about 12 connected consumer terminals. This network receives about 10 MMSCMD gas
from ONGC (Oil & Natural Gas Corporation) ex-Uran subject to availability.
High pressure DUPL-DPPL network in Maharashtra region consists of about 667 Km
length of pipeline including spur lines. This network has a design pressure of up to 92
kg/cm2 catering to the requirement of about 42 connected consumer terminals. Some
DUPL-DPPL spur lines have design pressure of up to 49 kg/cm2. This network receives
about 12 MMSCMD of gas from different sources subject to availability and contractual
arrangements between consumers and suppliers.

CAUVERY BASIN

GAIL, Cauvery Basin operates approximately 276 Km pipeline which are spread in five
different zones i.e. Narimanam, Kuthalam, Ramnad, Kovikalappal and Bhuvanagiri. Out of
the above Narimanam & Kuthalam zones are interconnected and rest all are having
standalone pipeline network. The pipelines are located in five districts of the state of
Tamil Nadu & Karaikkal of Puducherry U.T.

Gas supply is being made to about 53 consumers which include Power, LPG extraction
plants and others. The present gas supply is around 3.07 MMSCMD.

Vadodara, Gujarat

GAIL is operating more than 700 Kms of natural gas pipelines in Northern and Southern parts of
the state of Gujarat. There are various sources of natural gas connected to the pipeline
networks. This pipeline network is supplying approximately 2.5 MMSCMD gas to industries across
various sectors.

There is about 144 Km of pipeline network in the North Gujarat region where the outer
diameter varies from 12 to 2. In the South Gujarat region there is about 319 km of pipeline in
the Bharuch region where the outer diameter varies from 24 to 4 and 268 Km in the Undera
region where the outer diameter varies from 16 to 2.

KOCHI

GAIL, Kochi operates around 41 KM of natural gas pipeline network. Currently gas supply is
being made to different consumers namely M/s FACT-UD, M/s Nita Gelatin, M/s BPCL Kochi
Refinery & M/s HOCL.

Gas is sourced from PLL, Kochi. The current supply is around 0.9 MMSCM.

Rajasthan Region

GAIL, Ramgarh operates 86.2 KM of LANGTALA to RAMGARH (LRPL) natural gas pipeline network
and 65.3 KM of DANDEWALAGAMNEWALARAMGARH (DGRPL) natural gas pipeline.

Sources of gas supply are as follows:

i) From Focus Energy through LRPL line: Daily Contracted Qty-0.95 MMSCM.
ii) From OIL India & ONGC through DGRPL line: Daily Contracted Qty-0.75 MMSCM.
The only consumer is RRVUNL, Ramgarh.

Dabhol-Bangalore

In this network GAIL is operating around 1000 Km of pipeline in the states of Maharashtra,
Karnataka & Goa. Currently it is supplying around 1.2 MMSCMD gas to various consumers.
Currently the line pressure is maintained in the range of 50-54 kg/cm2.

Agartala

GAIL Agartala is operating about 60.2 KM of natural gas pipeline network passing through in 02
districts of Tripura viz. West Tripura and Sipahijala Districts. Gas supply is being made to 03
consumers which include Power Plant and CNG & PNG. The present gas supply is about 1.52
MMSCMD. Gas is sourced from ONGC, through 3 GCS. The present source wise gas supply details
are as under:
ONGC, ADB DOME GCS
ONGC, KONABAN GCS
ONGC, ROKHIA GCS

:
:
:

0.4-0.5 MMSCMD
0.4-0.5 MMSCMD
0.3-0.4 MMSCMD

The gas to customer is available at 02 different Pipe Line pressures; Power Customers(i.e M/s
NEEPCO & TSECL Rokhia at 20 kg/cm2 to -22Kg/cm2 and 6-10 Kg/cm2 to TNGCL for City gas
CNG & PNG). Consumers are connected through two grids separately for Power plant & City Gas.

Lakwa

GAIL Lakwa Region is operating about approximately 5 Km of natural gas pipeline network. Gas
supply is being made to 3 consumers which include Assam Power Generation Corporation
Limited, Lakwa Tea Estate and Captive Power Plant of ONGC. The present gas supply is about
0.6 - 0.75 MMSCMD. Gas is sourced from Geleky, RDS and Lakwa field of ONGC. After Internal
consumption of GAIL, Lakwa the lean gas allocation to various downstream customers of GAIL
are as follows:
APGCL
Lakwa TE
ONGC CPP

:
:
:

0.55 MMSCMD
0.005 MMSCMD
Balance Gas

The rich gas is received from ONGC at 7 8 Kg/cm2 and lean gas is supplied at 7 8 Kg/cm2.

JLPL

VSPL

The LPG pipeline from Vizag to Secunderabad through Vijayawada is an exclusive LPG pipeline
system in South India of total length of about 578 Kms. It is designed for handling 1.33 MMTPA
of LPG. The entire pumping operation is being done through 04 Nos. of booster pumps & 03 Nos.
of main line pumps at Vizag and 02 nos.of booster pumps at G Konduru.

It receives LPG from import (SALPG & EIPL) and HPCL Visakha Refinery up to GAILs pumping
station and being transmitted through underground pipeline to Secunderabad (Cherlapalli) via
Rajahmundry, Vijayawada (G.Konduru) and Suryapet to bottling plants of OMCs (HPCL, IOCL,
BPCL).

NOTE: In regional gas pipeline networks (namely Andhra Pradesh, Tamil Nadu, Maharashtra,
Gujarat & North East) the gas is being received are having condensate with moisture & sulphur.
There is a leakage history in these pipelines due to internal corrosion. However for the other
pipelines which are carrying mostly dry & sweet gas has no leakage history.

EXISTING O&M PRACTICES

The Pipelines are protected through Cathodic Protection (CP) system. Mainly Impressed Current
system used and Galvanic anode system used in some pipelines. Further the CIPS survey is done
once in 5 years followed by CAT/DCVG survey.

Most of the pipelines are Piggable. Cleaning pigging and Intelligent pigging of these pipelines is
being carried out as per schedule of GAILs Maintenance policy.

At some locations, there may be AC/DC interference due to high voltage AC transmission/ DC
traction, parallel/ crossed foreign pipelines in the common ROU, and also interference due to
telluric effect.

To maintain our pipelines and facilities across the country, we have a dedicated team of
Engineers and experts. To guide on operations and maintenance we have a documented policy
in place. Maintenance is carried out as per and international best practices and relevant codes.
GAIL has also been a key player in formulating codes and guidelines for Indian Standards, OISD
and regulatory board for the gas industry.

Centralized Monitoring of Operations across India:

National Gas Management Centre

GAIL has established National Gas Management Centre (NGMC), which is first of its kind for the
gas business in India at Noida, Sector-1 with an objective of round-the-clock monitoring of HVJDVPL network and coordination of entire gas transmission, LPG transportation & Liquid
Hydrocarbon production of the Company from a centralized location.

NGMC is having following features:

a) The availability of live data at centralized location for monitoring of pipeline installations,
delivery conditions of all major customer terminals.
b) Manning round the clock
c) Dedicated communication network
d) Coordination to Regional Gas Management Centers (RGMC)

Master Control Centers (MCC)

Two MCCs each in HVJ (Vijaipur & Hazira) & JLPL (Jamnagar & Loni) for operational reliability

Communication Redundancy:
Back up satellite link for data & voice communication

Regional Gas management Centres (RGMCs):

GAIL has seven RGMCs for round the clock centralized monitoring and control of respective
Regional pipeline network.
1) Mumbai
2) Vadodara
3) NCR
4) Rajahmundry
5) Pondicherry
6) Agartala
7) Bangaluru
8) Kochi

2. OBJECTIVE OF THE EOI

GAIL has been operating and maintaining a large network of natural gas pipeline and LPG
pipelines across India for more than 25 years guided by a well-documented Operations &
Maintenance Policy based on international best practices and globally accepted standards and
codes like ASME, API, ASTM, ISO, AGA, NACE etc.

For the purpose of reviewing the existing Operation and Maintenance Policy/practices and the
Standard Operating Procedures of the pipelines and other associated assets, GAIL intends to
engage internationally reputed pipeline operator who has a similar pipeline operational
expertise for comparison of the existing O&M practices and benchmarking of SOPs of all GAIL
owned NG and LPG pipelines across India.

3. SCOPE OF WORK

The typical scope of work/methodology for the intended job will be as given below:
(a)

Interactive opening meeting with the engaged pipeline operator/consultant for

understanding the requirement of GAIL to carry out the proposed review and benchmarking of
existing SOPs.
(b)

Review of existing Maintenance Policy and identification of the scopes of improvement

through suggestions/recommendations.
(c)

Review of existing works procedures/ Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs) and

identification of the scopes of improvement through suggestions /recommendations and thus

compare and benchmark SOPs of all the pipelines.
(d)

Review of existing Maintenance Practices (like ILI, pipe replacement policies, cleaning

pigging etc.) and thus comparing them with worlds best practices and recommend
modification.

(e)

Undertake historical review (e.g. inspection records, repairs, corrosion rates, damage)

and recommendation/suggestion based on that.

(f)

Suggestion/planning by the engaged consultant for the control/ mitigation measures for

those pipelines where assessment or direct examination anomalies have been detected or
similar conditions are inferred.
(g)

Risk assessment by the engaged consultant for pipelines where assessment data has not

been collected by integrating information from various sources, including subject matter
expertise; applied learning from other similar segments of pipe lines across globe.
(h)

Where assessment data is available, a pre-screening by the consultant will be performed

to look for urgent repair conditions by reliability based assessment to evaluate the probability
of failure.

(i)

Submission of report detailing required action lists in order of criticality

4. PRE QUALIFICATION REQUIREMENTS:

Interested reputed pipeline operators experienced in similar operation of natural gas and LPG
pipelines are invited to submit necessary documents/materials in support of their technical
and financial capabilities in order to get pre-qualified for the proposed job. Interested
qualified parties will be eligible to participate in the subsequent tendering process for
carrying out the proposed job.

Interested pipeline operators are required to submit the following information in a sealed
envelope super scribed with Documents for Pre-Qualification: For review of existing
operation & maintenance practices, gap analysis & comparison/benchmarking SOPs of all
GAIL owned NG and LPG pipelines and its associated installations across India to the address
mentioned below, within 15 days of publication of this advertisement:

i) Company Profile along with details of experience in pipeline operations such as length of
operating pipeline, years of operations, cathodic protection system of pipelines, cleaning and
intelligent pigging operations in pipelines, fire and safety system and SOPs (Standard
Operating Procedures) etc.
ii) The Team members details which will be preforming the job. The Team members must
consist of experts in cathodic protection, In-Line Inspection (ILI) etc.
iii) Audited financial statements for last three years with published Annual Report.
iv) Global Market Share in the gas transmission business.
v) List of Awards/ Recognition from renowned International Agencies.
v) Any other information that will demonstrate the interested bidders competence.
vi) Declaration from the interested bidder confirming that he can operate in the Indian
legislative regime.

Central Maintenance Group, CO-(O&M)

GAIL (India) Ltd
20th. Floor, Jubilee Tower
B-35,36 Sector-1
Noida-201301
Uttar Pradesh, India
Email: cmggroup@gail.co.in
Contact no: +91-(120) 2446400/4862400
Cell No: +91-8587896669