Minister of State for Petroleum and Natural Gas Shri Rameswar Teli informed in a written reply to a question in the Rajya Sabha today that the government has set a target to increase the share of natural gas in the energy mix to 15% by 2030 from around 6.3% now. Various initiatives have been undertaken to achieve this objective which include but are not limited to the following:
- Expansion of the national gas network to approximately 33,500 km from the current 21,715 km.
- Expansion of the City Gas Distribution (CGD) network.
- Establishment of liquefied natural gas terminals.
- Allocation of domestic gas to compressed natural gas (transport) / piped natural gas (domestic) in the category without cuts.
- Allowing marketing and pricing freedom for gas produced from high pressure/high temperature areas, deep water and very deep water and coal seams.
- Sustainable Alternative Towards Affordable Transportation (SATAT) initiatives to promote bio-CNG.
Provision of natural gas (PNG) pipeline connections and setting up of compressed natural gas (CNG) stations is part of the development of the CGD network and the same is carried out by entities mandated by the Petroleum and Natural Gas Regulatory Board (PNGRB). CNG stations and PNG connections are provided by authorized entities as per time schedules prescribed by PNGRB.
As of 31.05.2022, a total of 95.21 lakh PNG (Domestic) connections have been provided and 4531 CNG (Transport) stations have been established by authorized entities. After the completion of Round 11A of City Gas Distribution (CGD), 295 Geographical Areas (GAs) have been commissioned covering 98% of India’s population and 88% of its GAs, among others. According to the minimum work programme, CGD entities authorized in Round 11A must provide 12.33 million PNG connections and set up 17,700 CNG stations by 2030, including rural and urban areas.
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