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ONGC's hi-tech pipeline to prevent oil theft, leakages in Ahmedabad

While the new oil pipeline was commissioned in January, officials said that the LDS and PIDS too are in advanced stages of completion, and are likely to be put to use by July

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The Oil and Natural Gas Corporation (ONGC), which for years has been suffering heavy financial losses due to theft from its crude oil pipeline, has gone hi-tech to prevent pilferage as well as leakages.

ONGC has laid a new pipeline from its desalter at Nawagam in Ahmedabad district for transporting crude oil produced in its Ahmedabad and Mehsana assets to Indian Oil's Koyali Refinery in Vadodara.

"The 80-km pipeline has been laid at a cost of Rs197 crore. It is equipped with LDS (Leak Detection System) and PIDS (Pipeline Intrusion Detection System) technologies with fibre optic cables. The two systems would not only help in accurately identifying the spot of leakages, but also in detecting any intrusion activity taking place on the pipeline route," Debasis Basu, asset manager of ONGC's Ahmedabad Asset, told DNA.

While the new oil pipeline was commissioned in January, officials said that the LDS and PIDS too are in advanced stages of completion, and are likely to be put to use by July.

Basu said that they are also looking at ways to tackle theft from its producing as well as non-producing wells.

ONGC said in a statement that it has adopted PIDS for the first time in its history. While exact numbers related to the financial loss to the energy behemoth due to leakages and pilferage are not available, it is pegged at several crores in a year. A number of cases of oil theft from its pipeline have been reported with the police.

According to officials, the earlier pipeline was laid in the year 1990. However, being in operation for more than a quarter of a century, it was leaking frequently and had become a major source of loss of production. Additionally, there were frequent shutdowns, besides environmental degradation, loss of crop for farmers, and was also a potential safety hazard.

Basu said that laying of the Nawagam-Koyali pipeline was a major challenge as its route ran through three river crossings, and had to be completed using the Horizontal Directional Drilling. The pipeline also crossed five railway crossings, two national highway crossings, besides numerous roads and canal crossings, he added.

PROGRESS REPORT

While new oil pipeline was commissioned in January, officials said the LDS and PIDS too are in advanced stages of completion, and are likely to be put to use by July.

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