Solapur-Hyderabad petroleum product pipeline on the anvil

A petroleum product pipeline connecting Solapur and Hyderabad is the next major facility Indian Oil Corporation (IOC) is planning as a measure to ensure adequate fuel availability in the region.

It is in survey stage now, a senior official familiar with the proposal said, adding reconnaissance survey has been completed and detailed engineering survey is to be taken up.

A pipeline between Solapur and Hyderabad will be a crucial link giving shape to an east-west network connecting the refineries of IOC in Paradip (Odisha) and Koyali (Gujarat).

It could feed products to markets hundreds of kilometres away in the event of production at one of the refineries getting affected.

The facility under consideration will link up two other facilities under construction – the 1,212 km Paradip-Hyderabad; and the 747 km Koyali-Ahmednagar-Solapur pipelines. IOC terminals in Solapur and Gulbarga are to connected through the proposed pipeline.

“We will be extending the Koyali-Ahmednagar-Solapur line up to Hyderabad so that we can pump any product from Baroda refinery to Paradip, Vizag or any product from Paradip to Baroda,” the official said. It would be some time before the proposal is placed before the PNGRB, the regulator, for approval.

While getting the Right of Way (RoW) from other government agencies at the State level was not expected to pose a problem, the pipeline work itself would be challenging because of the rocky terrain, said the official, who did not wish to be identified.

IOC had recently crossed a major milestone in the Paradip-Hyderabad pipeline project when the facility crossed river Godavari at Rajahmundry.

The success of the pipeline network, to meet fuel demand from some of the fastest growing States in the country would, however, hinge on how soon the Malkapur terminal, near Hyderabad, proposed as part of Paradip-Hyderabad pipeline project, is commissioned. Without the terminal, the pipeline would serve little purpose for Telangana, the official said, adding issues related to conversion of the land acquired for the Malkapur facility remained.

In Andhra Pradesh too, the ₹3,800 crore pipeline project faced issues pertaining to compensation for the land acquired and resistance to the project itself in some places.

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