“Today marks another milestone on the road to becoming a gas-based economy and a step forward towards our pursuit for energy security combined with growth in a sustainable manner”, said Shri Hardeep Singh Puri, Minister of Petroleum & Natural Gas and Housing & Urban Affairs. Speaking at the event, he reiterated Government’s vision to increase the share of natural gas in the primary energy basket to 15% by 2030. “Development of National Gas Grid (NGG) and a wide spread CGD network for connecting the consumption centres with the supply points is vital for creation of a gas-based economy”, he said.

 

The Minister Hardeep Singh Puri dedicated to the nation 201 CNG Stations and India’s first Small Scale LNG Unit of GAIL. The dedication of the stations was done through video conferencing today at a function here in the presence of Union Minister of State, Petroleum and Natural Gas & Labour and Employment Shri Rameshwar Teli, Secretary, Ministry of Petroleum & Natural Gas (MoPNG) Shri Pankaj Jain, Chairman and Managing Director, GAIL (India) Limited, Shri Sandeep Kumar Gupta, Additional Secretary, MoPNG Shri Praveen Mal Khanooja, GAIL Director (Finance) Shri R K Jain, Director (Projects) Shri Deepak Gupta, Director (Marketing) Shri Sanjay Kumar, Director (Business Development) Shri R K Singhal and senior officials of oil and gas sector companies including CGD entities.

The 201 CNG stations dedicated to the Nation today have been set up by 15 City Gas Distribution (CGD) entities of GAIL group in 52 Geographical Areas (Gas) across 17 states while India’s first small-scale LNG unit has been set up by GAIL at its Vijaipur LPG plant.

Out of these 15 CGD entities, 53 stations belong to GAIL Gas Limited, 50 to Indraprastha Gas Limited, 43 to GAIL and 20 to Mahanagar Gas Limited. Moreover, four belong to Avantika Gas Limited, two to Bengal Gas Company Limited, three to Central UP Gas Limited, one to Goa Natural Gas Pvt. Limited, three to Green Gas Limited, one to Haridwar Natural Gas Limited, two to Purba Bharati Gas Limited, one to Rajasthan State Gas Pvt. Limited, one to Tripura Natural Gas Company Limited and one to Vadodara Gas Limited.

Speaking on the occasion, the Minister said that India is committed to continuously improve the policy and regulatory environment to support the development and make cleaner and sustainable fuel accessible and available to public at large. Addition of GAIL group’s 201 CNG stations spread across 52 Geographical Areas is a step closer toward achieving this vision and it also portrays the company’s commitment towards sustainability and environmental responsibility.  The inauguration of these CNG stations is a testament to our collective efforts to reduce carbon footprint and mitigate the adverse effects of climate change.

Commending GAIL for its innovation in setting up India’s first Small Scale LNG unit at Vijaipur(Madhya Pradesh) with project cost of 150 crores, Shri Puri said that this Small Scale Liquified Natural Gas technology, has the potential to play a crucial role in connecting the isolated gas sources with market and consumers; thereby, helping in monetization of these resources.

 As per Minimum work plan submitted by CGD entities, the Minister noted that the country will have around 17,500 CNG stations and around 120 million PNG(Domestic) connections by 2030. It will help in development of ancillary industries in various segments (CGD meters, Compressors, Dispensers etc) for fulling the dream of Atmanirbhar Bharat, he said.

With inauguration of the CNG stations and the Small-Scale LNG unit, the Minister reaffirmed government’s commitment to sustainable energy practices.

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RKJ/M

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