Proposed India–Oman Deep-Sea Natural Gas Pipeline from Ras Al Jifan to Porbandar

¨     India is working on a proposed deep-sea natural gas pipeline project from Ras Al Jifan in Oman to Porbandar in Gujarat.

¨     The project involves an undersea pipeline across the Arabian Sea, spanning approximately 1,600 to 2,000 km.

¨     The maximum depth of the pipeline is expected to be around 3,450 metres, making it a highly complex deepwater engineering project.

¨     The pipeline is designed to transport about 31 million metric standard cubic metres of natural gas per day.

¨     It aims to directly connect Oman with India’s western coast and reduce dependence on conventional maritime gas transport routes.

¨     The estimated capital cost of the project is between ₹40,000 crore and ₹43,000 crore (around $4.7–6 billion).

¨     The route passes through challenging geological regions, including the Arabian Sea, the Owen Fracture Zone, and the Indus Fan.

¨     Major public sector companies such as GAIL (India) Limited, Indian Oil Corporation, and Engineers India Limited are expected to prepare detailed feasibility reports.

¨     South Asia Gas Enterprise has already conducted a physical test pipeline of about 3,000 metres to assess seabed conditions and high-pressure steel pipeline installation techniques.

¨     The test project cost approximately ₹25 crore and helped evaluate technical feasibility in deep-sea conditions.