Bhopal: The Petroleum and Natural Gas Regulatory Board (PNGRB) organised the fourth road show near 9th City Gas Distribution (CGD) Bidding Round in the state capital on Friday.
As a major step in the area of natural gas across India, PNGRB has offered 86 Geographical Areas (GAs) covering 174 districts (156 complete and 18 parts), spread over 22 States and Union Territories (UTs) in India. These GAs cover 29% of India’s population and 24% of its geographical area.
In the past, PNGRB has conducted eight CGD bidding rounds during the past nine years resulting in award of 56 GAs. These include 29 GAs which were existing before PNGRB and six government-mandated GAs, till date 91 GAs have been authorised by PNGRB.
Existing GAs cover 130 districts (102 complete and 28 parts), spread over 24 States and UTs. The existing GAs cover a population of 24 Crore (19% of India’s population as per 2011 census) and 11% of its area. The existing areas have 42 Lakh domestic customers, 30 Lakh CNG vehicles, 1,350 CNG stations, 33,000 industrial and commercial customers. At present, about 25 MMSCMD of gas is sold by CGD entities, which 17% of country’s total gas consumption.
After the award of the GAs under offer, gas distribution would reach 286 districts (276 complete and 10 part) spread over 25 States/ UTs, covering 60 crore people (49% of India’s population) and 35% area.
The share of natural gas in India’s energy basket is 6.2% against the global average of 24.1%. The country is aiming to push share of natural gas to 15%, as gas is more environment-friendly and cheaper than liquid hydrocarbons and enables to meet country’s commitment in COP21 on carbon emission.
Gujarat has the distinction to have share of natural gas at 25% demonstrating India’s potential to achieve this goal. In line with this, PNGRB’s current focus is to increase the share of natural gas in India’s energy basket, to create infrastructure to support higher consumption of natural gas in India, to establish a transparent and vibrant natural gas market in India and to balance the interests of consumers, transporters and producers of natural gas.
Bidding conditions for the 9th CGD Bidding Round have been modified to make them investor-friendly, at the same time keeping a focus on creation of infrastructure, after considering the industry response and detailed deliberations.
