New Delhi, July 27 - State-run gas transmission and marketing company GAIL India has approved pipeline projects worth more than Rs.8,000 crore (Rs.80 billion/$1.6 billion) to transport hydrocarbons, including an over-2,000 km line from Uttar Pradesh to West Bengal.

U.D. Choubey, the outgoing chairman of GAIL, formerly Gas Authority of India, told reporters Monday that the company's board has approved the outlay to enhance the current pipeline network of 7,100 km to ferry 155 million metric standard cubic metres of gas per day.

The major part of the investment will be for the 2,050-km pipeline running from Jagdishpur in Uttar Pradesh to Haldia in West Bengal, to be executed at a cost of around Rs.7,600 crore.

It will be the single largest investment by GAIL in a pipeline project, Choubey said.

The entire project - slated to be completed by December 2013 - will cater to large and small gas consumers in eastern Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, Jharkhand and West Bengal.