News Release Details

Prime Ministers of India and Nepal jointly launch Ground-breaking Ceremony of India-Nepal Petroleum Product Pipeline
New Delhi   09-Apr-2018


Mr. Narendra Modi, Prime Minister of India greeting Mr. K.P. Sharma Oli, Prime Minister of Nepal.

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

Indian Oil Corporation Limited supplies the complete demand of major petroleum products of Nepal from Barauni Refinery and Raxaul Depot in Bihar to Amlekhganj Depot of Nepal Oil Corporation Limited, the national oil company of Nepal. The supply of major petroleum products like motors 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 as a substitute for the road transportation arrangement. The pipeline project will ensure uninterrupted supply and decongestion of road traffic at the border as well as decongestion of Raxaul Depot of IndianOil. The Government of India and 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.

Motihari-Amlekhgunj Pipeline project was approved by IndianOil at a total cost of Rs. 324 crores in September 2015. The 69 km long pipeline project involves laying of 10.75-inch diameter cross-country pipeline from Motihari in Bihar to Amlekhganj in Nepal, with pumping facilities at Motihari. The design 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 Indian Territory and 36.2 km will be laid in Nepal Territory.

The schedule for completion of the project is 30 months from the date of receipt of statutory clearances and the work is likely to be completed in March 2019. As part of the project, Amlekhganj Terminal including maintenance of four existing petroleum storage tanks will also be revamped. The re-engineering of Amlekhganj Depot comprises of receiving facilities, storage, dispatch station, an 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 standard as a unified project and carry out operation and maintenance of the pipeline for a specified period.

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