MEIDP – India's Transnational Pipeline from the Middle East

This paper presents details of the development of the Middle East to India Deepwater Pipeline (MEIDP) providing information on the technical and commercial feasibility of the deepwater gas transportation system, which will reach a record water depth of 3450m, cross two continental slopes, an earthquake subduction zone (the Owen Fracture Zone) and outfall debris of the river Indus fan in 2500m water depth. High pressure trunk lines have proved to be the safest, cheapest way of transporting gas to market for short to medium distances up to 2,500 kilometers, making the proposed SAGE - Middle East to India Deepwater Pipeline the optimal solution for gas delivery to the Indian Subcontinent. Linking Middle East gas fields of Saudi Arabia, UAE and Oman to India across the Arabian Sea for an offshore distance of 1200 kilometers. The MEIDP gas transmission pipeline is designed to transport up to 1.1BCFD gas into the Indian energy markets. The economic and political drivers for such a project are presented together with details of the overall project cost and tariff calculation to allow successful gas utilization by India's gas starved and stranded power stations. The pipeline project history and current design status will be reviewed together with findings of the Marine Reconnaissance survey between Oman and India. The challenges faced by the project from both a design and installation perspective are discussed together with some of the detailed geohazard assessments performed for the pipeline crossing and active fault zone (OFZ) and the Indus Fan. The qualification plan developed with DNVGL is described together with details of the future construction schedule for first Gas. As a project that builds from the Oman-India project of the 1990's; the changes in risk profile in terms of industry and vessel readiness are reviewed, and the readiness of the next generation of installation vessels to install such a pipeline is discussed.