The government is planning to increase the share of natural gas in the primary energy mix from the current level to 15% in the coming years. 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.

Oct 12, 2023

Calling 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 to provide solutions to the environmental challenges as well as ever-growing energy needs in a sustainable manner. Accordingly, he said that the Government of India has focused on promoting the usage of natural gas as a fuel/feedstock across the country to increase the share of natural gas in the primary energy mix from the current level to 15 percent in the coming years.

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

The Minister highlighted the importance of pipelines as an economical means of gas transport in the country. Talking about the growth in the pipeline network, he said that the pipeline network has seen 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 the CGD network since May 2014. He also talked about the growth in the number of PNG connections, and CNG stations during this period.

Progress at the country level of the 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 the government to cater to the growing demand of the 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 the 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 from the recent turmoil in oil and gas prices caused by geopolitical events. “We had taken measures so that the impact of the surge of international gas prices did not pass on to the consumers of the country.”, he said.

Speaking at the occasion, the Chairperson of 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 cleaner fuel in the fragile ecosystem of these States.

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

Currently, there are 300 GAs authorized by PNGRB covering around 88 percent of the country’s geographical area and 98 percent of its population. PNGRB has also authorized around 32,203 Km of natural gas trunk pipelines in the country out of which around 22,191 Km 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 the 12th 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.

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

After the completion of the 12th CGD bidding round, almost the 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 percent, which is slated to increase to 15 percent by 2030 thereby creating a gas-based economy.