Oil regulator adds Mizoram to 12th city gas bid round

New Delhi: Oil regulator PNGRB has added Mizoram to the areas it has offered for bidding for a licence to retail CNG and piped cooking gas in the latest city gas bid round.

In a notice, the Petroleum and Natural Gas Regulatory Board (PNGRB) said in continuation of the bids invited on October 13 for the development of the city gas distribution network for seven geographical areas, electronic bids are invited for the same in the state of Mizoram.

Last date of bidding is February 23, it said.

PNGRB had offered seven geographical areas (GAs) of Arunachal Pradesh, Meghalaya, Manipur, Nagaland, Sikkim, Union territory (UT) of Jammu & Kashmir and Ladakh under the 12th city gas distribution (CGD) bidding round for retailing of CNG to automobiles and piping the fuel to household kitchens and industries.

Mizoram was also identified to be part of the bid round but it was included as assembly elections had been announced and a clearance from the Election Commission was needed to be obtained.

Polling concluded in Mizoram on November 7.

There are 300 authorised GAs by PNGRB covering around 88 per cent of the country's geographical area and 98 per cent of its population.

On successful completion of the current bid round, India's entire area and population will be covered except the Andaman and Nicobar Islands and Lakshadweep.

The bid round is part of the government's aim to promote the use of natural gas as a fuel/feedstock across the country to increase its share in primary energy mix from the current level of 6.2 per cent to 15 per cent by 2030.

A presentation by the regulator at the launch of 12th bid round last month stated that an investment of USD 4.5 billion is expected in the development of city gas infrastructure in the areas being bid out.

The country has 1.15 crore house kitchens connected with piped natural gas. There are some 5,900 CNG stations in the country.

The city gas sector consumes about 35 million standard cubic meters per day or 22 per cent of all gas consumed in the country.

In the last 11th and 11A CGD bidding rounds, PNGRB authorised 67 GAs for the development of the CGD network in the country.