Dear Sir,

Last year, India imported 6.74 million tons of crude oil from Middle Eastern
countries during the first nine months of current fiscal. The imports during AprilDecember are 61 per cent of the target of buying 11 million tons of oil from the Persian
Gulf nation in the current fiscal. And according to a new study published by an
independent research group, the value and quantity of import will rise correspondingly
to the increasing population on India. Such imports cost a value of Rs 7, 26386 Crore
to the financial budget of the government, which is a large sum of money, and will
correspondingly increase with time. The import value also increases during the time of
financial crisis, terrestrial militarical tension or some other reason; causing a huge
burden over the financial year of the government.
But according to an independent study, India may be leaking more oil and gas from its
pipeline network than any country in the world, much of it because of criminal activity.
Currently, India has a trunk pipeline network for oil and gas of over 70,000 kilometers,
transporting 70 percent of the crude oil and 90 percent of the natural gas. By 2020, the
network will reach 200,000 km. Pipeline pressure is usually 100 to 120 atmospheres
(1470 to 1764 psi). The safety and security of the network is now getting critical, as the
vast expansion of the pipelines are a source of major accident for the nation.
Gujarat with its dominance in crude production from on shore assets leads in oil and gas
pipeline network and henceforth also faces issues related to oil pilferage. Cairn India
estimates pilferage worth Rs 1,000 crore of crude oil a year from various
underground pipelines. Parliament has passed an amendment Bill providing a maximum
of death sentence for acts of terrorism aimed at destroying oil and gas pipelines in the
country. The Petroleum and Minerals Pipelines (Acquisition of Right of User in Land)
Amendment Bill, 2011 was approved by the Rajya Sabha on 23rd December, 2011. The
Lok Sabha had passed it mid December 2011. The amendment to the Act is necessary
to prevent pilferage of petroleum by organized gangs and saboteurs. In last few years,
more than 230 cases of pilferage and sabotage have been reported, mainly from
Gujarat, Rajasthan and Haryana.

Last year, taking serious note of the groundwater contamination in Tondiarpet in

north Chennai due to oil leakage from pipelines, the southern bench of the
National Green Tribunal directed senior officials in the Union ministry of
petroleum and natural gas to rectify the problem. The leak was plugged this
morning and ONGC teams were using chemicals to control the small quantity of
oil floating on the water surface.
In January 2011, a pipeline ruptured causing a major oil spill, 80 km away from
Mumbai's coast. The spill had at that time spread to around 4 square km.
In August this year, an oil spill had been reported in the coastal areas of Gulf of
Khambhat following a rupture in ONGC's pipeline near Bhadbhut village of
Bharuch district of Gujarat.

The major cause of all these problems is untimely detection of the leak or pilferage,
thus Pipeline monitor is a set of few joint detection solution that enables to detect a
leak of petroleum product at a much efficient rate. It involves the utilization of military
technology, i.e. micro GPS tracking chipsets. These chips are very small and have a
battery life of 6hrs if run by a button cell. These micro GPS tracking chipsets will be

encased along with a cell in a plastic casing, which is necessary as it acts as an

insulator for electricity, and have a partial vacuum to provide it a buoyancy in the dense
fluid. Several of such micro GPS tracking chipsets balls will flow with the petroleum
product and will track their motion.
But an eminent question is GPS chips emit radio waves to provide the location of
themselves and metal including petroleum pipelines reflect them. In this case, the
radio waves will be trapped inside the pipeline and wont be able to provide any data,
then how would be trace any data?
And the answer is very simple- The micro GPS tracking chipsets balls wont be able to
provide any data from inside the metal pipeline, but can transmit it from the outside.
During the time of petroleum spillage or pilferage activity, the petroleum product
comes/bought to the open surface and with it the micro GPS tracking chipsets balls
(gushing out with the petroleum) will also become independent from the metal casing,
and at that situation it will recite it location to the control panel of its server will shall
further pass it to the SCADA center of the petroleum company. By this way we shall get
an evacuation buzzer to call upon the rescue.
In case of nil tragic situations, these balls will be filtered from the oil product at the
stations by a magnetic belt (the battery and GPS is made up of metal part) and the
product can go for its refine-ring.
Pros of Pipeline monitor1. Independence from manual and inefficient monitoring of pipeline.
2. Exact location of oil spill or the pilferage activity.
3. Fail-proof method to detect leakage.
4. Cheap method to cover the loss of Rs. 1000 crore.
5. Provide exact data if synced with the SCADA system.
And other than that, it will prove the save our environment.
Thanking You,
Aditya Vishwakarma