(LiveMint)
State-owned fuel marketers are pushing back against a regulatory suggestion to allow Reliance Industries Ltd (RIL) to use their pipelines to sell jet fuel at the Mumbai airport. Currently, the three public sector oil marketing companies — Bharat Petroleum Corp. Ltd (BPCL), Hindustan Petroleum Corp. Ltd (HPCL) and Indian Oil Corp. Ltd—fuel all aircraft at Mumbai’s Chhatrapati Shivaji International Airport through two pipelines from their refineries. RIL had written to the Petroleum and Natural Gas Regulatory Board (PNGRB) in November 2016 to declare these pipelines “common carriers” which would allow it to access them. On 4 May this year, the board suggested the same in a notice seeking public opinion, but OMCs are not giving up without a fight.
BPCL and HPCL say PNGRB did not consult them, and does not have the authority to impose any direction.“Though BPCL owns the pipeline, PNGRB has not heard BPCL’s view on the matter. The ATF pipeline is outside the scope and purview of the PNGRB Act and as such, PNGRB does not have the jurisdiction to declare the ATF pipeline as a common carrier,” said BPCL in its reply. A common carrier system implies that the capacity in a pipeline over and above the owner’s own requirement can be made available to any other entity if not fully utilized by the owner. This can be done on an annual contract basis.
