The company, which is implementing the 1,440-kilometer pipeline project from Kakinada, Andhra Pradesh state, to Baruch, Gujarat state, to transport gas from Reliance Industries Ltd.'s east-coast fields, expects to start a dry run of the pipeline shortly.

The east-west pipeline for carrying gas from the D6 block of Krishna-Godavari basin will have the capacity to transport 120 million cubic meters a day of gas, The Business Line newspaper reported Monday quoting a senior company official.

"The company plans to start testing the pipeline network in phases. We have received all the pending clearances including the environmental clearance for the pipeline to pass through a forest area in Maharashtra," the official said.

Initially, the company was expecting to complete the project by March, but now it has extended it to the end of May, the official said.