Guwahati, July 18: The Oil India Limited has submitted a feasibility report to the Centre for laying a gas pipeline from Barauni in Bihar to Numaligarh in Assam to tackle shortage of gas.

Industries and commerce minister Chandra Mohan Patowary today said a gas pipeline was necessary to meet the shortage of gas in the state as well as connect it to the National Gas Grid.

The grid was set up with the objective to remove regional imbalance within the country with regard to access to natural gas by connecting gas sources to major demand centres.

Assam requires 10 million cubic metres of gas per day as against the production of 8 million cubic metres per day.

OIL chairman and managing director Utpal Bora said it has recently submitted a feasibility report to the Centre.

"It will all depend on the economic feasibility study for any company to set up a gas pipeline," Bora said.

The gas pipeline will be 750km long from Barauni to Numaligarh and theestimated cost is Rs 3,400 crore.

Bora said it has included city gas distribution network and compressed natural gas stations in the feasibility project. The Gas Authority of India Limited (GAIL) is the ideal company to do this job as they lay gas pipelines, he added.

Bora said if GAIL or any other organisation did not come forward for the project, OIL would implement it in collaboration with the Assam Gas Company Limited.

"If there is a problem with economic viability of the project, the Centre is ready with a viability gap funding," he said.

The industries minister, on the other hand, said the state does not have enough gas which has created problems for tea gardens in Upper Assam.

A sub-committee had been constituted under the aegis of the GAIL to connect the state with the national grid.

The other constituents of the sub-committee are OIL, ONGC, IOC, Assam Gas Company, Numaligarh Refinery, Duliajan Numaligarh Pipeline Ltd and Tripura Natural Gas Company Limited.

Patowary said the idea of connecting the Northeast with the national grid has been mentioned in the Hydrocarbon Vision Document 2030.

The minister said it has been asking the ONGC to provide gas for the industries, but the corporation was not doing enough.

"For the last one year, we have been asking ONGC to give us gas at one place instead of different points in a scattered way. It is a big organisation, but it is not responding properly," Patowary said.

He said new oil and gas fields will have to be discovered otherwise the future of hydrocarbon industry here does not look promising.