A major step will be completed by 2012 .Goa will have a natural gas pipeline of  around 100 kms starting from Gokak in Maharashtra. The picture on the facing page gives the route of  the pipeline.  Gokak is on the Goa Karnataka border and falls on the  Bangalore-Dabhol ( Maharashtra ) pipeline. Gas Authority of India Limited (GAIL) who are constructing  this pipeline are known for their timely implementation of projects.

A Gas Authority team consisting of  Rajeev Mathur, General Manager ,GAIL, Kamal Tandon,  Chief manager Marketing,  and Girija Shankar,  Sr. manager - gas- made a presentation to the GCCI. The session was fairly interactive with the GAIL team having  done a fairly detailed job of estimating the requirement of the state. They also presented the macro picture on natural gas quite effectively.  At present the gas requirement of the state is around 400 million standard cubic metres daily with 75% of that demand from Zuari Fertilisers and the Reliance Infrastructure power plant. The proposition to Goa was very clear .Its a lower cost and clean fuel and besides industrial use Goa would be able to get piped gas for domestic use.

 Download GAIL natural gas presentation to GCCI on 13-05-2010 3.36 Mb

Goa falls into a larger plan of GAIL to connect 201 cities with piped natural gas connections by 2015.  Also in  Goa there is a core group of  6 companies which will be  ready  buyers initially but demand will be spurred at a later stage as other companies  also opt for this fuel. Among the major points that the GAIL team made were:

• GAIL is a steady growth company. It  has had a compound annual growth rate of  14% in revenues and 6% in profit after tax over the last 6 years
• The pipeline laying tender for Goa has been floated in May 2010. 
• The pipeline is expected to be completed by 2011-12
• The overall demand for natural gas will be heavily skewed towards Power and then Fertilisers. In the power industry it will be used as a fuel and in fertilizers as feedstock.
• Natural gas is an environmentally friendly fuel that is price competitive.

Generally there was agreement that Goa’s connectivity to the natural gas pipeline will be of major benefit to the state.