The government is set to invest $100 billion in the natural gas sector by the year 2022 as it plans to add another 228 cities to city gas distribution (CGD) network.

Addressing Petrotech 2016, A P Sawhney, additional secretary to the ministry of petroleum and natural gas, said, “India requires at least $136 billion investments in the gas sector by 2025 and the country is aggressively targeting at least $100 billion by 2022. This includes setting up of RLNG terminals, pipeline projects, completion of the gas grid and setting up of CGD network in more cities.”

Several rounds of bidding have resulted in identification of 28 Geographic Areas (GA) for implementation of CGD. The demand for natural gas is expected to increase by 80 million metric standard cubic meter per day with the addition of 228 cities to CGD. 35 new cities have been approved for having CGD networks in the last two years and efforts are being made to connect 10 million households to PNG (piped natural gas) network in the next three years.

In the net five years, government plans to increase the pipeline capacity to 30,000 km. “About 15,000 kilometre is already in the national gas grid and we have initiated works another 14,500 km that has got clearances. The recent initiative of Pradhan Mantri Urjja Ganga Yojana is a big initiative towards achieving this goal,” Sawhney said.