Delhi Aajkal Bureau, Delhi
5 March 2024
Taking a significant step towards building a Natural Gas-based economy as envisioned by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Union Minister of Petroleum and Natural Gas & Housing and Urban Affairs Hardeep S Puri dedicated to the Nation 201 Compressed Natural Gas (CNG) stations across 17 states and India’s first small-scale LNG unit at Vijaipur (Madhya Pradesh).
The dedication of the stations was done through video conferencing today at a function here in the presence of Union Minister of State, Petroleum and Natural Gas & Labour and Employment Rameshwar Teli, Secretary, Ministry of Petroleum & Natural Gas (MoPNG) Pankaj Jain, Chairman and Managing Director, GAIL (India) Limited, Sandeep Kumar Gupta, Additional Secretary, MoPNG Praveen Mal Khanooja, GAIL Director (Finance) R K Jain, Director (Projects) Deepak Gupta, Director (Marketing) Sanjay Kumar, Director (Business Development) R K Singhal and senior officials of oil and gas sector companies including CGD entities.
The 201 CNG stations dedicated to the Nation today have been set up by 15 City Gas Distribution (CGD) entities of GAIL group in 52 Geographical Areas (GAs) across 17 states while India’s first small-scale LNG unit has been set up by GAIL at its Vijaipur LPG plant.
Out of these 15 CGD entities, 53 stations belong to GAIL Gas Limited, 50 to Indraprastha Gas Limited, 43 to GAIL and 20 to Mahanagar Gas Limited. Moreover, four belong to Avantika Gas Limited, two to Bengal Gas Company Limited, three to Central UP Gas Limited, one to Goa Natural Gas Pvt. Limited, three to Green Gas Limited, one to Haridwar Natural Gas Limited, two to Purba Bharati Gas Limited, one to Rajasthan State Gas Pvt. Limited, one to Tripura Natural Gas Company Limited and one to Vadodara Gas Limited.
These stations will promote the usage of CNG as a greener alternative to conventional fuels and make it available in newer areas.
After the completion of ongoing CGD development in GAs awarded under the 12th CGD bidding round of Petroleum and Natural Gas Regulatory Board, almost entire India’s population and geographical area will have access to Natural Gas. The total number of CNG stations across the country has gone up to more than 6,200 while the number of domestic Piped Natural Gas (PNG) connections stands at around 1.21 crore. GAIL group companies account for 40 % CNG stations and 64 % PNG connections in the country.
In accordance with the continuous innovation undertaken in the natural gas value chain, GAIL has set up India’s first small-scale LNG (SSLNG) unit at its Vijaipur LPG plant. This SSLNG technology has the potential to play a crucial role in connecting the isolated sources and consumers which are yet to be connected to the Natural Gas Pipeline Network.
Today’s dedication ceremony is an important step in making the environment friendly and convenient fuel Natural Gas available to the transport sector and households in more areas of the country. Natural Gas in also safer and economical as compared to most conventional fuels.
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