Gas Authority of India Ltd

The Gas Authority of India Ltd(GAIL), later rechristened as GAIL (India) Ltd, today formally commenced a deserving celebration of its Silver Jubilee Year with the release of a special commemorative postage stamp in the national capital by none other than the President of India at Rashtrapati Bhavan. Last 25 years have been a chequered history for this Navaratna PSU under the Ministry of Petroleum & Natural Gas.

GAIL crossed several mile-stones during this period, making a significant contribution the cause of nation's development. It helped harness new resource of energy called natural gas, which has since gained a lot of popularity. Being an efficient fuel or an industrial raw material, industries crave for gas supply and as a very environment friendly source of energy, helps keep pollutants low. GAIL pioneered laying solid gas pipeline network to facilitate carrying natural gas to far-off corners of the country leading to mushrooming of industries along the way. It set-up petrochemical plant, LPG plants, and introduced CNG supplies to vehicle and piped gas supply to houses at the mere turn of a tab just as water supply.

Here is an account of the company's major milestones achieved since inception.

ROLE OF GAIL IN INDIAN ECONOMY
Serving the NationThe setting up of GAIL (India) Limited, formerly known as Gas Authority of India Limited in August, 1984 heralded a new era of natural gas in the country. GAIL is now completing 25 glorious yeas of service to the nation. Since 1984, GAIL has made significant contributions to the nation's economy by supplying natural gas through its pipeline network for: � Generation of over 87,000 MW of power.
� Production of over 145 million tones of Urea;
� Production of LPG for over 7 crore households in the country.
� Over 5.75 lakh vehicles in the country today running on CNG supplied by GAIL and over 7 lakh households on Piped Natural Gas (PNG) in the country
� Production of petrochemicals of around 400,000 MTs which is used in the plastics industry GAIL enabled the use of natural gas as a new energy resource in the country, which was earlier being flared in the offshore fields of Bombay High.

The natural gas infrastructure of around 7,000 km. accounting for over 82% of the total pipeline infrastructure in India, set up so far by GAIL has contributed enormously to the economically and socially critical sectors such as fertilizers and power. GAIL also has the distinction of pioneering the clean fuel revolution for transport sector in the country with the introduction of CNG in Delhi and Mumbai which has significantly helped in reducing pollution levels in these two cities. The pipeline network of GAIL supplies natural gas to various sectors equivalent to 204 million barrels of oil equivalent per year, thus not only contributing to import substitution but also providing environment friendly fuel.

The natural gas infrastructure of GAIL plays a significant role in serving the nation by facilitating equitable geographical distribution of economic benefits. It provides ready market access to the domestic gas producers, making gas available to the customers including those who are remotely located, facilitating monetization and development of gas fields which are otherwise scattered and devoid of market access. The pipeline network has created choice for customers by providing cheaper, environment-friendly alternative fuel and has reduced import-dependency as natural gas has substituted liquid fuels such as Naphtha, fuel oil, etc.

GAIL has also spearheaded the spread of City Gas and Piped Gas network in the country which has helped in bringing down pollution levels in metros such as Delhi and Mumbai. GAIL's pipeline network caters to the gas consumers in the states of Gujarat, Maharashtra, Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh, Delhi, Haryana, Uttar Pradesh, Andhra Pradesh, Tamil Nadu, Assam and Tripura. In addition to supplying Natural Gas to various consumers, GAIL has also set up 7 LPG plants and a Petrochemical plant to extract value added products from gas. GAIL produces around 1.35 MMTPA of Liquid Hydrocarbon including LPG for domestic consumption. GAIL is now an integrated energy company along the natural gas value chain with global footprints.

Today, GAIL has interests in the business of natural gas, LPG, liquid hydrocarbons and petrochemicals, the latter being value-added products. The Company has also entered in telecom sector by leasing bandwidth available through the OFC which is laid along the gas pipelines for their operation and maintenance. GAIL has also diversified into exploration & production, city gas distribution and is steadily developing an overseas presence.

In the area of corporate social responsibility, one of the major projects of GAIL has been setting up of Air Pollution Related Disease Diagnostic Centres (APRDCs) in over 20 cities in various parts of the country, at a cost of about Rs. 4 crore. Under this programme, the diagnostic centres equipped with modern diagnostic amenities related to respiratory and cardio-vascular diseases and well trained medical personnel have been set up in partnership with reputed Government / trust managed hospitals / institutions to provide diagnostic facilities and treatment to the people who are not able to afford baseline investigations for diagnosis. APRDC also works as R & D for development of facilities for diagnosing suspended particles, which are known to cause acute heart diseases.

In more recent times, GAIL has initiated steam conversion project based on waste heat recovery system from GAIL's gas turbines. This rare, multi-benefit project would not only utilize clean development mechanism (CDM) for power generation, but also lead to conservation of gas as well as increased energy efficiency. GAIL has a consistent track-record of dividend payment. So far, GAIL has disbursed dividend of Rs.6,230 crore to the shareholders including Government of India, which is more than seven times the original investment of Rs. 845.65 crore by the Government in its equity capital. Further, the Government has been disinvesting its shareholding in GAIL from time to time, bringing down its equity holding to 57.345 percent and thereby contributing to the exchequer an additional amount of Rs. 3,400 crore. International credit rating agency, Moody's have assigned a Baa2 indicative foreign currency debt rating (1 notch above the sovereign foreign currency rating) and A3 local currency issuer rating (5 notches above the sovereign local currency rating) to GAIL (India) Ltd.

Background

The history of GAIL (India) Limited, erstwhile Gas Authority of India Limited, is closely aligned to the growth of the Petroleum Industry in India.Till the mid eighties, state-owned Public Sector Undertakings in the Upstream & Downstream Segments were concentrating on effective sourcing and utilization of the oil resources of the country. ONGC had already made important gas discoveries in the western offshore � South Bassein fields which could not be utilized in absence of gas piping infrastructure. The Government embarked upon a planned and focused development of the natural gas sector in the country.

Beginning- Hazira-Vijaipur-Jagdishpur (HVJ) Pipeline Project
Entrusted with the responsibility of executing, operating and maintaining one of the largest natural gas pipeline projects in the world, GAIL built the 1800 km. long cross country Hazira-Vijaipur-Jagdishpur (HVJ) Pipeline at a cost of Rs. 1700 crore. It gave the Company a firm foundation to build on its capabilities and successfully take on project after project.

The Challenge of Initial years- HVJ Pipeline being the first project of its kind in the country, the timelines were stiff. The challenges included difficulties entailed in getting the project started like obtaining clearances, design parameters, documentation, finalizing global bids, setting up of basic infrastructure, long isolated stretches, 92 river crossings, 50 km. of forest, 221 land crossings, 450 km. of rocky terrain and 350 road crossings, across difficult terrains.

The HVJ pipeline network with a capacity of 18.2 MMSCMD was laid with the objective of transporting gas to Fertilizer, Power, LPG, Petrochemical plants and other industrial consumers in Gujarat, Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan, Uttar Pradesh, Haryana and Delhi.

India, which was dependent on imports for around 40% of its fertilizer needs before HVJ came, was now almost self sufficient in its needs of fertilizer. Next major consumer was the power sector. Once the natural gas was introduced in this sector and was well accepted due to its benefits such as clean fuel characteristics, smooth handling, high efficiency, etc., its market in other sectors / industries also started developing gradually. In due course of time, the demand for natural gas grew tremendously and with it, the pipeline infrastructure has been expanded to cater to the demand.