Cairn India started the Barmer-Jamnagar pipeline work at Bevta in Banaskantha district of Gujarat, about 200 km from Ahmedabad. The EPC contract for the 585 km long pipeline is being done by Larsen & Toubro, while the line pipe have come from Jindal Saw Mill at Mundra. The cost of the pipeline is estimated to be around Rs.3,200 crore.

Thirty-two gas-powered, one MW turbines (heating stations) will also be set up along the pipeline at a distance of 18 to 20 km from each other to keep the temperatures at 65 degree celsius for smooth passage of crude through the pipeline. This will cost an additional Rs.4 crore a MW each, totalling about Rs.130 crore.

The oilfield development work at Cairn India's discovery in Rajasthan is proceeding as per schedule. The integrated upstream and pipeline development is also on course to produce oil from Mangala by June 2009. At Salaya, crude will be handed over to the government which will then given it to public or private sector refineries.

ONGC is originally supposed to set up a refinery to refine the Rajasthan crude, preferably at Mangalore, but later dropped the idea. So, crude will now be evacuated at Jamnagar where the government may decide to entrust it to either the public sector refineries elsewhere or to the private sector refineries of Reliance and Essar in Jamnagar itself.

Also See:

Rajasthan government stops work on Cairn pipeline (24-Mar-08)

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