Hazira-Vijaipur-Jagdishpur pipeline

Also called: HVJ pipeline · Topic: Transport and Communication in India · NCERT: Class 10, Ch 5 "Minerals and Energy Resources"; Class 10, Ch 7 "Lifelines of National Economy"; Class 12, Ch 7 "Transport and Communication"

Meaning

The Hazira–Vijaipur–Jagdishpur (HVJ) pipeline is a natural gas pipeline of about 1,700 km, built by GAIL. It takes gas from the Mumbai High and Bassein offshore fields, which comes ashore at Hazira (Gujarat), to Vijaipur (Madhya Pradesh) and Jagdishpur (Uttar Pradesh). It was India's first long-distance gas trunk line across states (a trunk line is a main line that smaller branch lines join).

It matters because it carried gas from the sea far inland. Fertiliser, power and industrial plants could then be built in western and northern India, far from the gas fields. It also became the first piece of India's later gas grid.

Explanation

How it works: from sea bed to factory

• Gas is found offshore. Mumbai High is a gas field in the Arabian Sea, west of Mumbai. Bassein is another offshore field.
• The gas comes ashore at Hazira. Hazira is in Surat, Gujarat. This is where the HVJ line begins.
• Pumps push the gas inland. The gas moves through a long closed pipe, through Vijaipur (Guna district, Madhya Pradesh), and on to Jagdishpur (Uttar Pradesh).
• Plants along the route use the gas. Fertiliser, power and industrial complexes take gas from the line.

Why gas pipelines change where industry is located

• Natural gas is a raw material for fertiliser. It is used to make ammonia and urea.
• Before pipelines, plants had to sit near the source. Moving gas or crude oil by rail or road is costly.
• The pipeline removed this limit.
• Gas could now reach the interior cheaply.
• Gas-based fertiliser plants came up far from the gas fields, along the HVJ route.
• Industry spread into central India and the Ganga plains.

Parts and owner

• Builder and operator: GAIL (India) Limited, set up in 1984 as Gas Authority of India Ltd. It is a public sector company that transports, processes and markets natural gas.
• Three main points: Hazira (start) → Vijaipur → Jagdishpur.
• States crossed: Gujarat → Madhya Pradesh → Uttar Pradesh.
• Place in NCERT: NCERT Class 10 lists three pipeline networks. HVJ is network 3, the gas network. The other two networks (eastern and western) carry crude oil and petroleum products.

Merits and limits (as for all pipelines)

• Merits:
• Low running cost. Once the line is laid, only the pumps need energy.
• No trans-shipment (unloading goods from one carrier and loading them onto another), so no loss or delay.

• Works in any weather. Works day and night with few staff. Takes no road or rail space.

• Limits:

• High initial cost for the pipe, the pumping stations and land rights.
• Fixed route. It serves only the points it joins, and its capacity cannot be raised easily.
• Leaks are hard to find on a long buried line.

Growth into a national grid

• India's gas pipelines grew from 1,700 km (the HVJ alone) to 18,500 km. The grid is planned to pass 34,000 km (NCERT figures).
• The aim is a National Gas Grid: one connected network, so that every region can get gas.

Where it occurs

• Gas source: Mumbai High (offshore, Arabian Sea, west of Mumbai) and the Bassein offshore field.
• Start: Hazira, Surat, Gujarat, where the offshore gas comes ashore.
• Middle: Vijaipur, Guna district, Madhya Pradesh.
• End: Jagdishpur, Uttar Pradesh.
• States crossed: Gujarat, Madhya Pradesh and Uttar Pradesh only. Maharashtra is not crossed, even though Mumbai High lies off the Maharashtra coast.
• Who it serves: fertiliser, power and industrial complexes of western and northern India.
• Run by: GAIL (set up in 1984).

Don't confuse with

• Naharkatiya–Barauni pipeline: this is Asia's first cross-country crude oil pipeline (1,157 km, built by Oil India Limited, from Assam to Bihar). HVJ is a gas pipeline built by GAIL. "First crude line" is Naharkatiya–Barauni. "First long-distance gas line" is HVJ.
• Western crude network (Salaya–Viramgam–Mathura–Delhi–Sonipat–Jalandhar): it also starts on the Gujarat coast, but it carries crude oil and petroleum products and runs to Punjab. HVJ carries natural gas and ends in Uttar Pradesh.
• Mundra–Panipat pipeline: a crude oil line from Gujarat to Haryana that feeds the Panipat refinery. It is not a gas line.
• India–Bangladesh Friendship Pipeline: a cross-border line carrying High-Speed Diesel, not gas, from Siliguri to Parbatipur [2]. HVJ lies wholly inside India.

Prelims Hooks

• HVJ states crossed: Gujarat → Madhya Pradesh → Uttar Pradesh. Trap: Maharashtra is NOT on the route.
• HVJ carries natural gas, not crude oil. Gas source: Mumbai High and Bassein offshore fields.
• Builder: GAIL (India) Limited, set up in 1984. It is not ONGC, IOC or Oil India Limited.
• Place–state pairs: Hazira – Gujarat (Surat); Vijaipur – Madhya Pradesh (Guna); Jagdishpur – Uttar Pradesh.
• Length about 1,700 km. Gas pipelines then grew to 18,500 km, with 34,000 km+ planned (NCERT).
• NCERT Class 10 classification: HVJ = network 3 (gas). Eastern (Assam–Kanpur) and western (Salaya–Jalandhar) networks carry crude oil and products.

Mains Points

• Changing where industry is located (GS-I). The HVJ line freed gas-based industry from the coast.
• Cheap gas reached Madhya Pradesh and Uttar Pradesh.
• Fertiliser, power and industrial plants grew along the route.

• This spread industry into central India and the Ganga plains, which helped regional balance and farm output through urea supply.

• Infrastructure and energy security (GS-III). HVJ was the first step from a single trunk line (1,700 km) toward a National Gas Grid of more than 34,000 km.

• Benefits: low running cost, no trans-shipment losses, works in all weather, and less tanker traffic on roads.

• Problems: high capital cost, fixed routes, and leaks. These call for monitoring systems, open (common carrier) access and a regulator.

• Regional imbalance. Early pipelines were concentrated in the west and north (Gujarat to Uttar Pradesh and Punjab) and in the Assam–Ganga belt. The east, the interior of the north-east and the south were covered later. Extending the grid beyond the HVJ corridor is needed for equal access to clean fuel.

Related concepts

• Pipeline transport
• Naharkatiya-Barauni pipeline
• GAIL (India) Limited

Read more

• Pipelines