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February 24, 2004:
With multiple sources and multiple destinations, the future
gas supply scenario in the country is set to become highly
heterogeneous. At present, the supply chain in India is limited
to a few producers. The new expected sources of gas in India
would include the liquefied natural gas (LNG) impo-rted at
Dahej by Petronet LNG Limited, LNG at Hazira by Royal Dutch
Shell, new discoveries being announced by Oil and Natural
gas Corporation (ONGC) and other private players, as also
cross-border gas from Iran, Myanmar and other countries.
The emergence of new sources
of gas within the country and imported gas by way of LNG will,
in turn, give rise to a large number of owners/shippers. As
a result, the prices and the quality of gas shall vary with
these sources and transportation through the same pipeline
in co-mingled form shall make the transportation and distribution
system more complex.
In order to meet such complexities
of the gas supply system, the gas transportation and distribution
is fully administered through a software called the Gas Management
System (GMS). This includes nominations of shippers and customers,
capacity management, contract management and administration,
contractual validation, daily commercial balance and gas hydrocarbon
accounting, the validation and evaluation of nominations for
multiple sources and destinations, the allocation and balancing
of contracted services, sophisticated tracking, billing and
reporting.
GMS provides access to
customers, shippers and producers through the web for online
information regarding nominations, allocations and billing.
Having interface with the real time systems like SCADA (Supervisory
Control and Data Acquisition), GMS is integrated with the
total pipeline operational management system to maximise the
amount of gas transported through pipelines within the operating
limits.
In line with the global
trend, for the first time in India, Gail (India) Limited,
which owns a majority of the country’s pipeline transportation
network, will be introducing this web-based modern world class
GMS in the country for achieving real-time online interaction
between gas producers/shippers, transporters and customers.
The objective is to put in place efficient co-ordination and
transparency in the sector.
With the availability of
natural gas from multiple sources, Gail’s high-pressure pipelines,
like the HBJ pipeline, Dahej Vijaipur Pipeline (DVPL), Dahej
Uran Pipeline (DUPL) and other regional networks will form
the hub of gas movement in India. Managing the pipeline networks
with multiple sources of gas from multiple shippers and multiple
clientele will, therefore, be a challenging task. For this,
Gail has appointed TELVENT of Canada for implementing GMS
at an approximate cost of Rs 2.8 crore. The scope of the vendor’s
work includes all the software and hardware required for successful
running and subsequent maintenance of GMS software.
The first phase of the project
covers implementation of gas allocation, gas reconciliation
and gas billing for the HBJ and DVPL pipelines. The consumers
located along these two pipelines would be able to access
the GMS package through the web. The first phase of the project
is to be completed by end April.
The second phase will cover the installation of GMS in entirety
in Gail’s HBJ and DVPL pipelines, which includes installation
and implementation of interfacing with existing SCADA systems
and completion of balance modules. (i.e., gas nominations,
scheduling, contract management etc.). This phase also includes
interfacing of GMS with Gail’s windows-based in-house SCADA
systems for all its eight regional pipeline networks. This
phase is targeted to be completed by the middle of June 2004.
The supplied GMS shall support
at least 100 shippers, 2,000 consumers, multiple sources and
60 independent pipeline networks.
Says the chairman and managing
director, Gail India, Proshanto Banerjee: “Gail owns a vast
pipeline network of approximately 7,000 km. For natural gas
transportation, this pipeline network is expected to grow
further to 12,000 km in another few years. With the availability
of natural gas from multiple sources, there is going to be
a multiplicity of gas sources feeding gas into Gail’s pipeline
network. Thus, it is necessary to have a system in place for
formulation of billing procedures and adoption of contractual
safeguards. With these initiatives, GAIL is fully prepared
to handle the dynamic situation of natural gas management
in a transparent manner”.
Before appointing TELVENT
for implementation of the GMS system, Gail had deputed a high-level
team from different functional areas of the company to visit
the premises of a number of leading gas transmission companies
and to interact with suppliers and consultants world over.
The team visited Turkey, Germany, France, the UK, Canada and
Norway and met leading companies including Ruhr Gas, Germany,
Gaz De France, France, GASSCO, UK, TransCanada, Canada, BOTOS,
Turkey. The team has also held discussions with well known
vendors like PSI, Berlin, Telvent, Canada, ESI, UK, Stoners,
UK, Schlumburger, France and Kelton, UK.
With the implementation
of GMS, Gail says its will be in a position to utilise the
pipeline network efficiently. Shippers and customers will
be able to access GMS through the web, which would give operational
flexibility to customers.
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