Petroleum and Natural Gas Ministry awards licences for eight geographical areas covering 103 districts in six North Eastern states, 2 UTs in Jammu & Kashmir & Ladakh; the city gas network now covers the entire country barring islands
Mar 13, 2024
In order to expand the gas network to all States and Union Territories of the country, barring the islands, an investment of Rs 41,000 crore will be made for the distribution of retail CNG to automobiles and piped cooking gas to houses over the next few years in six North Eastern states and two Union Territories of Jammu & Kashmir and Ladakh.
The announcement was made by Mr. Hardeep Singh Puri, Minister of Petroleum and Natural Gas, while awarding licences to the winners of the 12th city gas distribution (CGD) bidding round.
Mr. Puri revealed that with the award of licences for eight geographical areas covering 103 districts in six north eastern states of Arunachal Pradesh, Meghalaya, Manipur, Nagaland, Sikkim and Mizoram, along with two Union Territories of Jammu & Kashmir and Ladakh, the city gas network now covers the entire country, except the islands.
The city gas licence for Arunachal Pradesh was awarded to the consortium of Bharat Petroleum and Oil India, while Haryana City Gas bagged the licence for Meghalaya.
The Tripura Natural Gas, promoted by GAIL (India), secured the licence for Manipur and Mizoram. The Hindustan Petroleum Corporation (HPCL), in collaboration with OIL, was awarded the licence for Sikkim, while the BPCL became the preferred choice for the two Union Territories of J&K and Ladakh.
Mr. Puri said the initiatives to develop a gas-based ecosystem of gas infrastructure over the past few years have opened up new avenues for investment of around USD 67 billion.
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He added that the Prime Minister’s vision to increase its share in India’s energy basket from around six percent to 15 per cent by 2030 will increase the gas consumption by about three-fold from the present level of around 185 million standard cubic metres per day to over 500 mmscmd by 2030.
As per the Minister, in order to provide access to natural gas in the far-flung areas at competitive and affordable rates, the Petroleum and Natural Gas Regulatory Board (PNGRB) has brought out amendments in its natural gas pipeline tariff regulation and implemented a unified tariff last year.
