The share of natural gas in the country’s primary energy mix has risen from 6.3 per cent in 2020 to 6.7 per cent last year, Minister of State for Petroleum and Natural Gas, Rameswar Teli, said on Thursday adding that the government has set a target to raise the share of natural gas in energy mix to 15 per cent by 2030.
In a written response to a query in Lok Sabha, the Minister added that as part of the initiative to make natural gas available to more consumers, the government has approved partial capital grant of ₹5,176 crore for the Jagdishpur-Haldia-Bokaro-Dhamra Pipeline (JHBDPL) project and ₹5,559 crore for North-East Gas Grid. So far, ₹4,549.204 crore has been utilised in the JHBDPL project and ₹1,030 crore has been utilised in the North-East Gas Grid.
The Petroleum and Natural Gas Regulatory Board (PNGRB) grants authorisation to the entities for development of City Gas Distribution (CGD) network in Geographical Areas (GAs) as per the PNGRB Act, 2006, Teli said.
“Investment for the development of CGD network and natural gas pipeline infrastructure is done by the authorised entities, both private and public as per the techno commercial requirements. The authorised entities have done an investment for approximately ₹14,556 crore this year. Further, PNGRB has received bids for 61 GAs in the 11th round which entail investment of more than ₹80,000 crore,” he said.
In a separate query in Lok Sabha, Teli said that 3,628 CNG stations have been commissioned across the county as of December 31, 2021.