News Release Details

Prime Ministers of India and Nepal launch Ground-breaking Ceremony of India-Nepal Petroleum Products Pipeline
New Delhi   07-Apr-2018



Prime Minister of India, Shri Narendra Modi, and Prime Minister of Nepal, Shri K.P. Sharma Oli, launched the ground-breaking ceremony of India-Nepal petroleum products pipeline from Motihari to Amlekhgunj through live-streaming at Hyderabad House in New Delhi today.

Indian Oil Corporation Limited (IndianOil) supplies the complete requirements of major petroleum products of Nepal from its Barauni Refinery and Raxaul depot in Bihar to Amlekhganj depot of Nepal Oil Corporation Limited (NOC), the national oil company of Nepal. The supply of major petroleum products like motor spirit, superior kerosene oil, high speed diesel, LPG and aviation turbine fuel by tank-trucks and tankers through road movement is affected by frequent road blockade at the Indo-Nepal border.

The Motihari-Amlekhgunj pipeline project was planned for supplying petroleum products to Amlekhganj depot to replace the road transportation arrangement. The pipeline project will ensure uninterrupted supplies and decongestion of road traffic at the border as well as decongestion of Raxaul depot of IndianOil. The Government of India and the Government of Nepal through their respective national oil companies (IndianOil and NOC) signed a Memorandum of Understanding in August 2015 for the first international cross-country pipeline project of India.

The Motihari-Amlekhgunj Pipeline project was approved by IndianOil at a total cost of Rs. 324 crore in September 2015. The 69-km-long pipeline project involves laying of a 10.75-inch diameter cross-country pipeline from Motihari in Bihar to Amlekhganj in Nepal, with pumping facilities at Motihari. The design throughput capacity of the pipeline is 2.0 million tonnes per annum. Out of the total length, 32.7 km of pipeline will be laid in the Indian territory and 36.2 km will be laid in Nepal territory.

The schedule of completion of the project is 30 months from the date of receipt of statutory clearances and the work is likely to be completed by March 2019. As part of the project, Amlekhganj terminal will also be revamped, including maintenance of four existing petroleum storage tanks. The re-engineering of Amlekhganj depot comprises receiving facilities, storage, dispatch station, international standard laboratory for full specification and batch formation test as well as fire-fighting facilities. IndianOil will be constructing the pipeline system of high quality as per international standards as a unified project and will carry out operation & maintenance of the pipeline for a specified period.

IndianOil operates a 13,391 km pipelines network, the largest in the country, with a throughput capacity of 94.79 MMTPA liquid pipelines network and 9.5 MMSCMD of gas pipeline. IndianOil’s Pipelines Division has been conferred with the coveted Oil & Gas Transportation Company of the Year Award by the Federation of Indian Petroleum Industry (FIPI) for the second year in a row. At present, a number of pipeline projects with a CAPEX of Rs 17,765 crore are under various stages of implementation. Upon completion of these projects, the length of IndianOil’s pipeline network would increase to about 20,700 km by the year 2020; capacity of liquid pipeline network – 118.2 MMTPA and capacity of our gas pipeline – 60.5 MMSCMD.