Centre inaugurates Barauni-Guwahati natural gas pipeline

Notably, the union government has inaugurated the Barauni-Guwahati natural gas pipeline. The project was developed by GAIL (India) Limited under the Pradhan Mantri Urja Ganga project. It involved laying of 718 km long natural gas pipeline between Barauni and Guwahati in the states of Bihar and Assam, respectively, which would link the north-eastern part of the country with the national grid to meet increasing fuel needs of households and factories in the region. It entailed an investment of Rs 39.92 billion. Besides, it also laid the foundation stone for Digboi refinery expansion, Guwahati refinery expansion and augmentation of Betkutchi (Guwahati) terminal. The Digboi refinery expansion Project includes capacity expansion of refinery from 0.65 million tonnes per annum (mtpa) to 1 mtpa along with expansion of atmospheric and vaccum distillation unit, delayed coker unit and new hydrogen generation unit and offsite facilities while the Guwahati refinery expansion includes expansion of the refinery from 1 mtpa to 1.2 mtpa along with installation of catalytic reforming unit.