PNGRB approves GAIL tariff for transporting natural gas

Oil regulator PNGRB has approved the tariff that state-run GAIL India will charge from consumers for moving natural gas through its two main trunk pipelines. The Petroleum and Natural Gas Regulatory Board (PNGRB) last week allowed GAIL to charge four different distance-based tariffs on its Hazira-Vijaipur-Jagdishpur (HVJ) and Dahej Vijaipur pipelines. GAIL will charge Rs 19.83 per mmbtu to transport gas for the first 300 kilometres on the HVJ line. It will charge Rs 22.48 per mmBtu for the next 300-km zone, Rs 25.10 for zone-3 and Rs 27.70 per mmBtu for zone-4, PNGRB said in a order.The company will charge Rs 42.46 to Rs 59.32 per mmBtu over four zones on the Dahej-Vijaipur pipeline, it added.

 The regulator had also approved the tariff for the East-West pipeline, which is majority-owned by Reliance Industries Chairman and Managing Director Mukesh Ambani. Reliance Gas Transportation and Infrastructure's 1,395-km pipeline from Gadimoga near Kakinada in Andhra Pradesh to Bharuch in Gujarat ships gas from RIL's KG-D6 fields. The 48-inch pipeline, the largest in Asia, has been divided into five zones of 300 km each, the PNGRB order stated.

The company will charge Rs 15 per mmBtu from customers such as Anil Ambani Group's Samalkot power plant, which will get RIL's KG-D6 gas in Zone-1 (Andhra Pradesh). For zone-2 and 3, the tariff has been fixed at Rs 42 per mmBtu and Rs 53.69 per mmBtu respectively, but there are very few customers on this stretch. For zone-4, falling in Maharashtra, the tariff has been fixed at Rs 58.75 per mmBtu. Rs 60.94 per mmBtu is the tariff that customers in Gujarat will pay to RGTIL, it said. Most of the KG-D6 users are in Maharashtra and Gujarat.