It’s a big day for the state as Indradhanush Gas Grid Limited (IGGL) on Friday completed the challenging task of laying a 24 inch diameter hydrocarbon pipeline beneath the mighty Brahmaputra River by Horizontal Direction Drilling (HDD) method connecting Jorhat and Majuli in Assam.

This marks the completion of a major milestone in the construction of the North East Gas Grid (NEGG) connecting North East India to the National Gas Grid.

The total length of the pipeline in this single HDD crossing is 4080 Metres across the main water channel of Brahmaputra River. This is the longest river crossing by any hydrocarbon pipeline of size 24 inch diameter and above in Asia and 2nd longest in the world.

This one of a kind HDD river crossing was executed by Intersection method, where two HDD rigs simultaneously started drilling from the two sides of Brahmaputra River with intersection of the two drilling heads in the middle at 30 meter beneath the river bed of Brahmaputra. The laying of 4080 M Pipeline section was completed by overcoming numerous hurdles faced mainly due to monsoon rains and flood.

The total length of HDD crossing across the Brahmaputra River considering all major and minor water channels is 5780 M. This was done in 3 separate HDD sections of length 1000 M, 4080 M and 700 M. The 1000 M and 700 M sections were completed earlier. The next step will be tie-in of the three sections at two points, which will be located at 15 M and 8 M below Natural Ground Level (NGL).

Commenting on the company’s triumph, Ajit Kumar Thakur, CEO IGGL said, "With completion of the Brahmaputra HDD, IGGL has achieved more that 71% physical progress of the NEGG Project and will be able to complete the Guwahati- Numaligarh section of the NEGG by February 2024. I'm extremely proud of my team, who have worked tirelessly to achieve this milestone overcoming challenges of monsoon rains and flood in Assam. I am also thankful to Govt of Assam, who is extremely supportive in implementing this project.”

Indradhanush Gas Grid Limited, a JV company of 5 major Oil PSUs viz. IOCL, ONGC, GAIL, OIL & NRL is implementing the prestigious North East Gas Grid Project connecting the major cities and demand centres of North East India with the National Gas Grid.

The 1656 km long natural gas pipeline is constructed at a project cost of Rs 9265 Crore, 60% of which is received as grant from Govt of India.