7th Natural Gas O&M Conference

A Brief Report on
The 7^th O&M Conference at Mumbai on 27^th and 28^th June, 2024

Natural Gas Society (NGS), in association with Mahanagar Gas Limited (MGL)- Principal Sponsor and Pipeline Infrastructure Limited (PIL) – Co-Sponsor, organized the 7^th “Natural Gas Operation & Maintenance Conference” at Mumbai on 27^th and 28^th June 2024.

This Conference provided a unique opportunity for the participants to understand and deliberate on the challenges in operation and maintenance of Natural Gas Transmission and City Gas Distribution, technological developments and updates in these domains.

During this conference, the experts and practicing professionals from various organizations such as M/s MGL, IOCL, BPCL, HPCL, GAIL, PIL, IGGL, Reliance Ethane Pipeline Ltd, Green Gas Ltd, Avantika Gas Ltd, IOAGPL, Think Gas Ltd, Shell Energy and Adani Total Gas Ltd and vendors like Pietro Fiorentini, Alethe Labs India Pvt Ltd, ABB, Clean Green Logistic Pvt Ltd, Sanmarg Projects and Hoerbiger India Pvt. Ltd etc. and academic Institutions like Shiv Nadar University and Chitkara University participated to deliberate on various issues related to Natural Gas and City Gas Distribution. The conference was successfully concluded with enormous learning and fruitful deliberations on the key issues faced by the industry, as also the future outlook.

There was overwhelming response with wide participation of the delegates from all the above, Gas Transmission &, City Gas Distribution Companies and including M/s Megha City Gas Distribution Pvt Ltd, Vadodara Gas Ltd, IRM Energy Ltd, HPOIL Gas Pvt Ltd, Ambertronics Engineers Pvt Ltd, U3S Chemsolutions Pvt Ltd, AIUT Technologies LLP, Bulk MRO Industrial Supply Pvt Ltd and Sanmarg Engineering Validation and Assessment Pvt Ltd etc.

Shri Ravindra N Ambulgekar, Chief Fire Officer, Mumbai was the Guest of Honor on this occasion along with Shri Ashu Shinghal, MD-MGL the esteemed Guest and Shri Akhil Mehrotra, MD & CEO, PIL the Chief Guest on this occasion.

Shri D V Shastry, ED NGS welcomed all the guest and delegates and emphasized on importance of Safety in Natural Gas Industry, Strategic gas storage, CGD as fastest growing sector, pooling of resources, capacity and capability building and its impact on the business of various stakeholders and organizations. He also highlighted the important role played by NGS in this mission and laid emphasis on standardization, diagonistic capability and efficient reliable operations.

During his special address Shri Ashu Shinghal, MD-MGL said that this conference is an excellent initiative by NGS and stated that O&M is the backbone of any industry yet it doesn’t receive the full credit. Further, MD MGL explained about the challenges being faced in operating a vast CGD network in Mumbai city. However, all operational and emergency procedures are being followed by MGL for its safe operations and zero compromise in safety. He also mentioned about the establishment of the integrated control room of MGL for real time monitoring the all data of compressors and network parameters through SCADA system.

Speaking on the occasion Shri Ravindra N Ambulgekar, Chief Fire Officer, Mumbai said that public awareness has improved in Mumbai and MGL has cooperated and contributed well in this initiative. This has resulted in the for decline in gas leakage cases leading to decline in the fire incidents and injuries. CFO Mumbai thanked MGL for prompt response during many incidents including the assistance provided during the recent Ghatkopar billboard collapse case.

In the inaugural address Shri Akhil Mehrotra, MD & CEO, PIL addressed that Natural Gas will continue to serve for atleast next 4-5 decades and CGD will be the major NG consumer. He emphasized on timely arrest of gas leakages and the need to adopt the latest O&M practices, pipeline patrolling and integrative management for enhancing effectiveness of operations by proper data collection and failure prediction.

On Day-one, a Leadership panel discussion with key-players of the industry was held on “Pooling of Resources and Experience sharing to enhance the efficiency and economics of Natural Gas Industry: The way forward”, chaired and moderated by Shri Pramod Narang, Director (Tech), Petronet LNG Ltd. The deliberation highlighted that the different natural gas companies should develop a culture of collaboration for resource sharing and enhancing efficiency and economy. Further various challenges in achieving target of increasing the share of NG in energy basket of our country were also discussed.

The session on “O&M and Integreity of City Gas Distribution Network” was chaired by Shri Bhashit Dholakia, CEO, IOAGPL. The presentations covered on topics such as Gas Loss & unaccounted Gas in CGD Network, New Technologies for Health Assessment of Piggable & Non-Piggable lines. and use of Artificial Intelligence (AI) for Gas Metering in the CGD Network

Next Session on “Safety, Disaster Management and Emergency Handling in NG Pipeline & CGD Network” was chaired by Shri Nitin Warkhedkar, GM (I/c)-Safety, HPCL. The presentations in this session covered the topics like Emergency Handling and ERDMP Compliance in NG Network and in CGD Network, Diversion of Pipeline and damage Controls, and the need for Integrated Command & Control Centre in CGD etc.

Further session followed on, “O&M and Integrity Management of Natural Gas Pipeline Network” chaired by Shri Vivek Wathodkar, ED (O&M-WR), GAIL. The presentations covered the topics Gas Management System (GMS), Pipeline Integrity Management System (PIMS), Mitigation of ILI Anomalies in High Pressure Gas Pipelines and ROU Maintenance & Management.

Day 1 was concluded with a Leadership panel discussion on “Strategic gas storage and effective handling the gas outages in CGD due to damage and other issues: The Way forward” chaired by Shri Srinivasan Murali, CEO, Unison Enviro Pvt Ltd. The deliberation highlighted that the vehicle mounted LNG tanks are the probable solution for storage of natural gas in case of the gas outages in CGD. Further, the importance of network looping was suggested by Shri Nitin Patil, Ex CEO, Gujarat Gas Ltd.

Day-two commenced with the Technical Session on “New Technologies and Innovation in NG Pipeline Network and CGD”. It covered presentations on Pipeline Intrusion Detection System (PIDS), Online Leak Detection System in NG Pipelines, Digital Transformation and Automation in Gas Pipelines, Digitalization in Operations for Maximizing Efficiency and Safety and Innovations in CGD Industry.

In the next session, a Leadership panel discussion was held “Skill Gaps in O&M Manpower, Importance of Skill Development & Experienced Manpower in Effective Management of Pipelines & CGD Operations: The way forward” chaired by Shri Ajit Kumar Thakur, CEO, IGGL The deliberations highlighted that the different natural gas companies and CGD entities should develop the Importance of Lifelong Learning and On-the-Job Training, training to be considered as an investment not a cost. Knowledge gap in respect of new technologies and troubleshooting should be explored and implemented. For meeting such requirements, it was suggested that short duration courses can be designed based on industry inputs for a skill oriented workforce. It was highlighted that industry related inputs should be included from initial school level as well.

The 3rd Session on Day 2 was “Operation and Maintenance Management of NG Pipelines & CGD: Case Studies and Experience Sharing” chaired by Shri Sanjay Shende, Dy MD, MGL. Various presentations included Case Study on Black powder/slurry intrusion in gas pipeline, Integrity Assessment of Non-Piggable Pipelines, CBG-CGD Integration – Challenges & way forward, Mobile based leak Detection in CGD Network and LNG Transportation Vehicles, LNG dispensing system & LNG as fuel for heavy commercial vehicles.

The last session of the day 2 was on “New initiatives on NG Pipeline network and CGD network” chaired Shri Rajesh Jain, Director Commercial, AGL. The presentations covered topics Hydrogen Blending in Natural Gas/CGD Network, Risk and Barrier Management in Pipelines, Integrated Operations and Maintenance Management and New Generation Valves and Sealing System for the Natural Gas Reciprocating Compressors.

The O&M conference was concluded on 28^th June 2024 with a valedictory session which included a brief presentation on the key points of conference covered during three interactive leadership panel discussions and six technical sessions with twenty-five presentations. Closing remarks were given by Sh Ashu Shinghal MD MGL, Sh K Divakar VP(O&M) PIL, Shri V. C. Chittoda, Sr. Consultant, NGS and Sh D V Shastry ED NGS.

The Vote of thanks was presented by Shri Satish Geda, Sr Consultant, NGS who thanked all the participants for attending the 7^th O&M Conference as esteemed guests /delegates/ speakers and subject matter experts. Shri Geda thanked Principal Sponsors M/s MGL for their excellent support and valuable contribution in organizing the conference at Mumbai. He also thanked the Co-Sponsor M/s PIL for their support.