Unocal proposes pipeline through Bangladesh

US energy giant Unocal has proposed to build a gas pipeline connecting two eastern Indian states through neighbouring Bangladesh, a report said yesterday

The project's goal is to move unused gas from India's northeastern state of Tripura to the western state of West Bengal, the Press Trust of India (PTI) news agency said.

"We are keen on laying a pipeline for transportation of gas from Tripura to Calcutta, Unocal's vice president Andrew Fawthrop was quoted as saying by PTI.

"There is a market for Tripura gas some 500 to 600 kilometers (300-370 miles) away."

Tripura's gas reserves of some 3.0 million cubic metres (105 million cubic feet) per day would be marketed to industrial hubs in eastern India.

The project, however, hinges on Dhaka giving the go-ahead for the pipeline to cross the Bangladeshi district of Comilla, which separates the two Indian states.

Unocal operates the gigantic Bibiyana Gas field in the northeastern Bangladeshi district of Habiganj and has proposed laying a 1,363-kilometer pipeline from the fields to northern India to transport some 15 million cubic meters of gas a day.

The Bibiyana field was discovered by Unocal in 1998 but has not been developed amid controversy over whether Bangladesh should export gas to India.

Studies commissioned by Bangladeshi Prime Minister Khaleda Zia's government have said Dhaka was not in a position to sell energy resources.

Fawthrop said Unocal was planning tie-ups with Indian companies for its Tripura pipeline.

"It makes sense to work on such a project with some partners, and we are identifying partners for that," he said. "(The state-run) Oil and Natural Gas Corporation (ONGC) can be one such partner."

ONGC owns the Tripura gasfields, which are currently under-producing because they lack a market in the northeast. Unocal could also lay the pipeline on its own should it fail to strike an agreement with Indian partners, Fawthrop said.