Minister of Petroleum & Natural Gas and Skill Development & Entrepreneurship Dharmendra Pradhan today distributed the Letter of Intents (LOI) to 12 successful entities for 50 Geographical Areas (GAs) under the 10th CGD Bidding Round, recently awarded by PNGRB. This will herald new era with respect to the availability of convenient, environment-friendly and cheaper natural gas to more than 70 % of the country's population, spread across 27 States and Union Territories upto 10th round. Over 2 crore PNG connections are envisaged to be provided by these entities, and 3,578 CNG stations will be put up in the area.

As per provisions of the CGD Authorisation Regulations, authorization shall be granted to the successful bidders after receipt of the requisite Performance Bank Guarantee from the concerned entities within specified period of 30 days. Entity-wise details of successful bidders are given below:

Speaking on the occasion, Dharmendra Pradhan said that Indian oil and gas market, helped by progressive and conducive policy environment, have become mature and lucrative. Two international entities have bid in the 10th round and won 10 GAs. He said that the Present Government has been able to achieve historic and unprecedented results, within the same system and resources. He said that within 5 years, the coverage of City distribution area has gone up from 20% of population to 70%. He said that there is large potential in the CGD business, as we are exploring the use of LNG in heavy commercial vehicles, use of gas in steel and other industries. The Minister said the availability of cheap, clean and convenient gas will safeguard our poor from diseases. Congratulating the PNGRB for its proactive role in bringing more areas under the CGD, and completing the process in the record time, he said that besides certain small states/ UTs, big states like Haryana, Gujarat and Punjab will now be fully covered under the CGD.

10th CGD Bidding Round

Encouraged with the enthusiastic participation by the industry in the 9th CGD Bidding Round and recognising the need of the country to create infrastructure for distribution of natural gas in various parts of India, PNGRB initiated the 10th CGD Bidding Round on 8 November 2018 which was formally launched by Prime Minister Narendra Modi on 22 November 2018 at Vigyan Bhavan, New Delhi. 10th round covered 50 Geographical Areas (GAs) spread over 14 states and 124 districts (112 full and 12 part), covering 24% of India's population and 18% of its area.

The e-bidding process was initiated on 8 November 2018, with last date for bid submission as 5 February 2019. The bid evaluation for all 50 GAs has been completed in record period of 3 weeks.  After this round, 70% of India's Population, 52% of Area, 402 districts spread over 27 states and union territories and the states of Delhi, Gujarat, Goa, Punjab, Haryana and Union Territories of Daman & Diu, Dadra & Nagar Haveli, Chandigarh would be fully covered with CGD.

Why Natural Gas

Natural gas is a superior fuel as compared with coal and other liquid fuels being an environment friendly, safer and cheaper fuel. Natural Gas is supplied through pipelines just like one gets water from the tap. There is no need to store cylinders in the kitchen and thus saves space.  As per WHO database released in May 2018, India has 14 out of 15 world's most polluted cities in terms of PM2.5 concentration.Large number of industries also consume polluting fuels like pet coke and furnace oil which emit polluting CO2. Some of the courts recently ordered for banning use of pet coke in states within their jurisdiction. 

Natural Gas (as CNG) is cheaper by 60% as compared with petrol and 45 % w.r.t. Diesel. Similarly, Natural Gas (as PNG) is cheaper by 40 % as compared with market price LPG and price of PNG almost matches with that of subsidised LPG (based on prices in Delhi). An autorickshaw owner can save Rs 7000-8000 on his monthly fuel bill by conversion from petrol to CNG. Thus, even on cost front as well, natural gas is preferable to petrol, diesel and LPG