South Asia Gas Enterprise Co. (SAGE) is developing a new deepwater pipeline between Iran and India. In an interview with TOGY, the director of the company Subodh Jain talks about the geopolitical and technological challenges the project needs to overcome. The main points of this interview are as follows:
- The Middle East to India Deepwater Pipeline, which is also called the SAGE undersea pipeline, has been there for quite a long time. Now, a very active project is being developed to directly stretch the pipeline from Iran to India. For security reasons, we circumvent Pakistan through the Arabian Sea. Rather than solving geopolitical issues, we prefer to solve the technical ones such as the deepwater installation of our pipelines.
- This project is technically very challenging because it will be the deepest pipeline in the world. The length of the pipeline is 1,300 km and its maximum depth is 3,400 m.
Iranian companies will sell the gas to Indian companies – we have an MoU with the National Iranian Gas Export Co. (NIGEC) – where they sell the gas to Indian customers, such as GAIL, GSPC [Gujarat State Petroleum Corporation], and IOCL [Indian Oil Corporation], with whom we have a PoC [principle of co-operation]. Iran and India will be connected with our common-carrier pipeline that can be used by everybody after the relevant tariff has been paid- as a model we have defined.
- Currently, the project is actively being developed, while being helped by the INTECSEA from the Worleyparson Group, and by companies such as UK’s Peritus International in deep-water sector.
- This is a five-year project. We hope we will enter the FEED stage very soon. We have already carried out some preliminary work and pre-field studies. We hope to award the front-end engineering and design study to a leading global firm this year. This will help finalize the pipeline route and make better cost estimates. A field study is required, though it will cost a lot- maybe US $50 -70 Mln. We are just waiting for things to clear up, because this is a huge amount of money.
- We have developed a global consortium the members of which are the leading partners of India as well as the world. We are working closely with pipeline companies, pipe laying contractors and those owning the barges. Allseas international, Heerema Marine Constructors and Saipem have built what they call mega-barges that can lay pipeline up to 4,000 m deep. Such changes cause laying deep-water pipelines not seem too difficult.
- We have been working with several upgraded mills worldwide that can install very thick pipe necessary at such a depth of water. Otherwise, as you know, the pipe can collapse in very deep waters.
- In terms of finance, we have appointed SBI Capital Markets- India’s leading finance and loans organization- as a part of the State Bank of India. They are our financial advisors and help us to navigate the way.