Government has planned to invest $60 billion for creating gas infrastructure in the country till 2024, increasing the gas’ share in the energy mix from the current 6 percent to 15 percent by 2030, said petroleum minister Dharmendra Pradhan while speaking at Assocham Foundation Day Week 2020. The minister said, “On the investments front, we have envisaged a $60 billion spend in creating gas infrastructure till 2024, including for pipelines, LNG terminals and CGD (city gas distribution) networks. We are ushering a gas-based economy by increasing the share of natural gas in India's primary energy mix from 6.2 percent to 15 percent by year 2030.”
India launched its first automated national-level gas trading platform in June this year to promote and sustain an efficient and robust gas market and foster gas trading in the country.
Coverage of CGD projects are being expanded to 232 geographical areas spread over 400 districts, with potential to cover about 53 percent of the country's geography and 70 percent of population, he added. He also said, "We are adopting clean mobility solutions with greater use of LNG (liquefied natural gas) as a transportation fuel, including long haul trucking. We plan to have 1,000 LNG fuel stations across the country. Last month, foundation stone was laid for the nation's first 50 LNG fuel stations.”
India has achieved the milestone of completely filling all the strategic petroleum reserves this year with a total capacity of 5.33 MT (million tonnes) constructed at Visakhapatnam, Mangaluru and Padur.
"We have initiated the process of establishing another 6.5 MT commercial-cum-strategic petroleum storage facilities at two locations, Chandikol and Padur, under the public-private partnership model," he added. He said, "We also have clear indications of improvements and a gradual increase in activity across all states and sectors of our economy. We are already reworking the traditional strategies, not just to mitigate the effects of the pandemic but to build back better.”
The minister added that there is a reflection of these efforts in how India's energy sector has bounced back with remarkable resilience. "Our energy demand has almost recovered back to pre-COVID-19 levels, particularly for petroleum products. We are confident that this recovery path in energy demand growth in India will sustain in the coming months."
