What is pipeline transportation ? Give any two points of importance of pipeline transportation.
(1) Under pipeline transportation now pipelines are used to transport crude oil, petroleum products and natural gas from oil and natural gas fields to oil refineries, fertiliser factories and big thermal power plants. (2) Advantages : Crude oil and other petroleum products can be transported to far away inland locations like Barauni and Panipat. Pipelines have proved beneficial for gas based fertiliser plants. Solids can also be transported through a pipeline when converted into slurry. Running cost of pipelines is minimal but initial cost of laying pipeline is high. There are no trans-shipment losses or delays. (3) Networks of pipelines : There are three networks of pipeline transportation as given below : From oil field in upper Assam to Kanpur iJJttar Pradesh) via Guwahati, Barauni and Allahabad. It has branches from Barauni to Haldia via Rajbandh, Rajbandh to Maurigram and Guwahati to Siliguri. From Salaya in Gujarat to Jalandhar in Punjab via Viramgam, Mathura, Delhi and Sonipat. It has branches to connect Koyali (near Vadodara, Gujarat), Chakshu and other places. Gas pipeline from Hazira in Gujarat connects Jagdishpur in Uttar Pradesh via Vijaipur in Madhya Pradesh. It has branches to Kota in Rajasthan, Shahjahanpur, Babrala and other places in Uttar Pradesh.
