The Centre plans to extend the North Eastern Gas Grid, which aims to create a natural gas pipeline network in northeastern India to Bangladesh, Nepal and Bhutan.

Apr 17, 2024

In order to promote cross border energy trade, the Government of India is planning to extend its North Eastern Gas Grid (NEGG), which aims to create a natural gas pipeline network in northeastern India, to neighbouring countries such as Bangladesh, Nepal and Bhutan.

As per official sources in the Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Gas, the work on NEGG is expected to be completed in the next months. After completion, NEGG will be connected to the national grid and then to other countries. The move is part of India’s South Asia First policy and larger energy diplomacy. The government is also planning to expand the pipelines to Sri Lanka and Myanmar later.

Sources said the proposal has been sent to the Ministry of External Affairs, which would decide on how to take it forward. The government would hold talks with the concerned neighbouring countries for implementation of the project.

India had earlier proposed to connect Myanmar and Bangladesh through an LNG pipeline, but the project was shelved later.

The national gas grid is already operational, however, interconnections at a few locations are yet to be completed. It will be connected with the northeastern gas grid in the next two months. The project is expected to increase natural gas production in the country, they added.

The natural gas pipeline grid in the North East connects eight states in the region – Assam, Arunachal Pradesh, Manipur, Meghalaya, Nagaland, Mizoram, Sikkim and Tripura. It will connect Guwahati to capital cities/major cities of North East states like Itanagar, Dimapur, Kohima, Imphal, Aizawl, Agartala, Shillong, Silchar, Gangtok and Numaligarh. 

The grid will be connected with the upcoming Barauni-Guwahati natural gas pipeline as part of the Urja-Ganga scheme. The grid will also connect to sustainable and viable indigenous gas sources in the North East. The pipeline grid has been designed with flexibility for gas injection in either direction.

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As per official data, the current share of natural gas in the energy basket in India is 6.7 percent. The Government has set a target to raise the share of natural gas in the energy mix to 15 percent by 2030. 

With the aim to create a National Gas Grid (One Nation, One Gas Grid) and increase the availability of natural gas across the country, PNGRB has authorised approximately 33,622 km natural gas pipeline network across the country out of which 24,623 km natural gas pipeline including spur lines, tie-in connectivity, sub-transmission pipelines (STPL) and dedicated pipelines are already operational and a total of 10,860 km length of pipelines is under various stages of construction.