Oil ministry seeks nod to split GAIL; pipeline business may be sold later

The Oil Ministry has moved a cabinet note seeking approval for hiving off state-owned gas utility GAIL (India) Ltd’s pipeline business into a separate entity for a possible sale to a strategic investor at a later date, sources privy to the development said.

GAIL is India’s biggest natural gas marketing and trading firm and owns more than 70 per cent of the country’s 16,981-km pipeline network, giving it a stranglehold on the market. Users of natural gas have often complained about not ‘fairly’ getting access to GAIL’s 12,160-km pipeline network to transport their fuel.

Sources said to resolve the conflict arising out of the same entity owning the two jobs, bifurcating GAIL is being considered.