World's longest LPG pipeline to boost safety, lower costs in India

India is set to commission the world’s longest liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) pipeline by June, a major infrastructure development that will substantially lower fuel transportation costs and reduce the risk of fatal road accidents.

The $1.3 billion project, led by state-run refiners, will replace the reliance on hundreds of trucks that currently transport LPG across the country, Caliber.Az reports per foreign media.

“This will be a game changer in the LPG supply chain,” said N. Senthil Kumar, director of pipelines at Indian Oil Corp., in an interview. “It’s like putting LPG on a conveyor belt.”

The pipeline will stretch over 2,800 kilometres, running from Kandla on India’s west coast to the northern city of Gorakhpur. Once completed, it will be capable of annually transporting approximately 8.3 million tons of LPG, which accounts for roughly 25 per cent of India’s total demand. The first phase of the project is expected to be commissioned in March, with the full pipeline operational by mid-2025.

This significant development comes in response to the rising risks associated with transporting LPG via trucks. Last month, a tanker overturned in Coimbatore, partially halting the southern city, while in December, a road accident in Jaipur resulted in 20 fatalities, 45 injuries, and significant vehicle damage after a truck collided with an Indian Oil vehicle.

The project is a collaboration between Indian Oil, Bharat Petroleum Corp., and Hindustan Petroleum Corp., which have jointly formed a venture, IHB, to lay the pipeline. The pipeline is expected to be a crucial solution for improving the efficiency of the LPG supply chain and ensuring greater safety, as transportation by road has been prone to accidents.

India’s Petroleum and Natural Gas Regulatory Board has long advocated for more pipelines to handle the increasing volumes of LPG demand, which has surged by 80 per cent over the past decade, reaching 29.6 million tons in the fiscal year ending March 2024. This rise has been fueled by efforts from Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s government to encourage low-income households to shift from using polluting biomass to cleaner cooking fuel, with subsidies making LPG more affordable.

Despite delays due to pandemic-related lockdowns and difficulties sourcing materials amid Russia’s war in Ukraine, the project marks a key step in India's strategy to reduce road mishaps and ease the burden of LPG transportation.

Currently, India’s LPG pipeline network spans nearly 5,000 kilometers. Once completed, the new pipeline will drastically reduce reliance on trucks, which still transport approximately 70 per cent of the fuel to bottling plants across the country.

By Vafa Guliyeva