India builds world's longest LPG pipeline to cut costs , road accidents

02/03/2025 10:31 AST

India's state-run refiners will fully commission the world's longest liquefied petroleum gas pipeline by June, a key development that will sharply cut fuel transportation costs and help prevent deadly road accidents.

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

The $1.3 billion project will likely replace hundreds of trucks that travel across the length and breadth of the country to move the fuel from refineries to bottling plants, raising the risk of accidents. A tanker overturned in Coimbatore last month, bringing the southern city to a partial halt. In December, 20 people were killed, 45 injured and three dozen vehicles damaged after a truck hit Indian Oil's vehicle in the northwestern city of Jaipur.

Indian Oil, Bharat Petroleum Corp. and Hindustan Petroleum Corp. have jointly formed IHB to lay the 2,800-kilometer-long pipeline from Kandla on the west coast to the northern city of Gorakhpur. The first phase will be commissioned in March, and will be fully operational from the middle of this year, said Kumar, who is also the chairman of the joint venture.

The network will be capable of annually transporting about 8.3 million tons of LPG, or about 25% of India's total demand. It's likely to significantly reduce transportation costs in the world's third-largest consumer as about 70% of bottling plants still get it by trucks. The country's Petroleum and Natural Gas Regulatory Board has been pushing refiners to build more pipelines to tackle increased volumes and avoid any major road disasters.

Times of Oman