State-run GAIL is working on a project to connect isolated gas fields to the national grid, which will make available 3.5 million standard cubic meters per day (MSCMD) natural gas for CNG and PNG customers at an economical rate.

The initiative by the Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Gas (MoPNG), as part of its first 100 days target, involves procurement of compressors and using them to convert low pressure gas from isolated fields to high pressure gas, which can be injected into the national gas grid, a senior government official said.

“This will help in increasing the availability of gas by about 3.5 MSCMD. The effective cost of the increase is expected to be only about 50 paisa per kg of CNG for the final consumer,” he added.

Dip in logistics cost

Explaining the rationale, the official said that connecting isolated fields with the main grid would increase the availability of domestic gas to compressed natural gas (CNG) for transport and piped natural gas (PNG) used in households’ segments of the CGD sector. It will minimise logistics cost and swapping charges as well as will complement the integration of the National Gas Grid.

In the spirit of helping your neighbours, a top government official said, India will provide liquefied natural gas (LNG) to Sri Lanka to run its power plants.

State-run Petronet LNG (PLL), and Sri Lanka’s LTL Holdings have signed a MoU for creating LNG Infrastructure and supply chain to Sri Lanka. It is focused on providing solutions to supply LNG through a multimodal ISO container supply chain involving development of unloading, storage, and regasification facilities at Kerawalapitiya in Colombo.

“Under this MoU, PLL will explore LNG supplies to fuel the 230 megawatt (MW) gas turbines at Kerawalapitiya ensuring clean, reliable and round-the-clock power generation,” the official added.

The Ministry has also moved for amendments to the Oil The Oilfields (Regulation and Development) Amendment Bill 1948 in the recently concluded Budget session. The Ministry expects the amendments to be passed by Parliament in the upcoming session.

Mineral oil umbrella

Through the proposed amendments, the Ministry has introduced ‘petroleum lease’ and has expanded the definition of mineral oils to include crude oil, natural gas, petroleum, condensate, coal bed methane, oil shale, shale gas, shale oil, tight gas, tight oil and gas hydrate. Besides, it separates mining operations from petroleum operations.

“The changes are expected to bring confidence for the potential bidders for OALP X exploration acreages being planned in the next financial year. The government will also provide benefits of these changes to winning bidders in the OLAP IX round, which closes this week,” the official said.

Another notable achievement in the first 100 days of the Ministry’s performance was the jump in LPG consumption by Ujjawala beneficiaries.

Under PM Ujjawala Yojana (PMUY) and Ujjwala 2.0, 10.33 crore deposit-free LPG connections have been provided to economically weaker households.

“The per capita consumption of PMUY beneficiaries, which was at 3.01 cylinders per family in FY20, rose to 3.95 FY24. It has now hit 4.2 cylinders per Ujjwala family till July 2024. Price moderation of LPG cylinders along with the subsidy helped in raising the consumption,” he added.