Calling the Natural Gas, an environment friendly clean fossil fuel, Shri Hardeep Singh Puri, Minister of Petroleum & Natural Gas and Housing & Urban Affairs said that it has huge potential in providing solutions to the environmental challenges as well as ever growing energy needs in a sustainable manner. Accordingly, he said that Government of India has focused to promote the usage of Natural Gas as a fuel/feedstock across the country to increase the share of Natural Gas in primary energy mix from current level to 15% in coming years.

The Minister was briefing the media at the launch of 12^th City Gas Distribution (CGD) Bidding Round at the Taj Mahal Hotel, New Delhi. Chairperson, Petroleum & Natural Gas Regulatory Board (PNGRB), Shri Anil Kumar Jain and Secretary, Ministry of Petroleum & Natural Gas (MoP&NG), Shri Pankaj Jain were also present at the event.

Speaking on the occasion, Shri Hardeep Singh Puri noted that successful conclusion of 11^th CGD bidding round has increased potential coverage of CGD sector to about 98% population and 88% geographical area of the country. The 12^th bidding round launched today will help in expansion of CGD coverage further, he said.

The Minister highlighted the importance of pipelines as economical means of gas transport in the country. Talking about the growth in pipeline network, he said that the pipeline network has seen a significant progress since 2014. At present, about 23,500 Km long gas pipeline network is under operation in the country and around 12,000 KM pipeline is approved/under construction. Efforts are underway to complete the vision of One Nation One Gas Grid by 2030, he noted.

Shri Hardeep Singh Puri highlighted the progress of CGD network since May 2014. He also talked about the growth in number of PNG Connections, and CNG stations during this period.

Progress at country level of CGD network since May 2014 is as under:

Parameters	As on May, 2014	As on August, 2023	% Growth
No. of CGD networks for GAs	53	300	566
PNG Connections	25.4 lakh	1.16 crore	457
No. of CNG Stations	738	6000	813
CGD Coverage (% wise Population)	13.27	98	738
CGD Coverage (% wise Area)	5.58	88	1577

 

The Minister spoke about the steps taken by government to cater the growing demand of CGD sector and insulate the common people from price volatility.The Government released new CGD sector Gas allocation Guidelines wherein allocation of Domestic APM Gas was increased to CGD entities which has reduced basic cost of the Gas to CGD entities substantially by diverting the gas from other sectors.

Shri Puri said that the government had insulated people common from recent turmoil in oil and gas prices caused by Geo Political events. “We had taken measures so that impact of surge of international gas prices did not pass on to the consumers of the country.”, he said.

Speaking at the occasion, the Chairperson, PNGRB, Shri Anil Kumar Jain, said that the current focus of PNGRB is to create a vibrant and sustainable gas infrastructure in the whole of the country. The launch of this bidding round for Himalayan States is a step towards providing a cleaner fuel in the fragile ecosystem of these States.

Addressing the gathering, Shri Pankaj Jain, Secretary, Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Gas, welcomed the steps being taken by PNGRB to develop gas infrastructure in country.

Currently, there are 300 GAs authorised by PNGRB covering around 88 per cent of the country’s geographical area and 98 per cent of its population. PNGRB has also authorized around 32,203 Kms of natural gas trunk pipelines in the country out of which around 22,191 Kms of pipeline are currently operational. In order to further expand the reach of natural gas in the country, PNGRB is in the process of inviting electronic bids from interested parties for 12^th CGD bidding round offering 7 Geographical Areas (GA) covering five North East states viz. Arunachal Pradesh, Meghalaya, Manipur, Nagaland & Sikkim and UTs of Jammu & Kashmir and Ladakh.

The electronic bids would be invited from 13^th October, 2023, the last date for submission of bids is 11^th January 2024 and PNGRB intends to finalise the award by March, 2024.

After completion of 12^th CGD bidding round, almost entire part of the country, except Mizoram (as the election date was announced on 09.10.2023), Andaman and Nicobar Islands and Lakshadweep will be covered under the City Gas Distribution network providing access to cleaner cooking fuel to households, other industrial and commercial facilities as well as fuel for transportation. 

This amounts to a giant leap by the PNGRB towards improving the share of natural gas in the country’s energy mix. India’s current share of Gas in the Energy mix stands at 5.78 %, which is slated to increase to 15% by 2030 thereby creating a Gas based economy. 

 

RKJ/M

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