Pipeline Network of India

• Prime Minister Narendra Modi said that as part of efforts to make India a natural gas-based economy, 10,000 more CNG (compressed natural gas) stations would be opened and several lakh PNG (piped natural gas) household connections given in the coming days.

• Inaugurating the 450-km Kochi-Koottanad-Mangaluru LNG (liquefied natural gas), Mr. Modi said the facility was part of his government’s “one nation, one gas grid” policy.
• The government has a concrete plan to move towards a gas-based economy that would be cheaper, convenient and environment-friendly, he said.
• The Prime Minister said the government would make substantial investments in coal and gas sectors.
• The plan was to increase the share of natural gas in the energy sector from the present 6% to 15% by 2030.
• Mr. Modi said the government had definite plans for the future to make the country energy-sufficient and reduce expenditure on foreign exchange through diversification of energy requirement.
• Focus was being given on increasing production of ethanol to increase its content in petrol to 20% from the present 5%.
• The world’s largest hybrid energy plant (wind and solar) was coming up in Gujarat.
• The electric mobility sector too was being encouraged. Through these, alternative, cheap and pollution-free fuel and energy would be made available to people, he said.
• Giving out statistics on efforts to boost the alternative energy sector, Mr. Modi said while 15,000 km of LNG pipeline was laid between 1978 (when the first inter-State pipeline was commissioned) and 2014, work on 16,000 km that started in 2014 would be completed in the next four years.
• As against 900 CNG stations between 1992 and 2014, 1,500 new stations were built thereafter and the numbers would increase to 10,000 soon. As against 25 lakh PNG connections till 2014, 72 lakh PNG connections were given till date.
• The Kochi-Mangaluru pipeline would provide another 21 lakh PNG connections.

National Gas Grid

Objectives

• To remove regional imbalance within the country with regard to access to natural gas and provide clean and green fuel throughout the country.
• To connect gas sources to major demand centres and ensure availability of gas to consumers in various sectors.

Major Gas Pipeline Projects

• Jagdishpur – Haldia/Bokaro – Dhamra Pipeline Project (JHBDPL) & Barauni- Guwahati Pipeline project (BGPL): Timely development of this project is supporting the revival of 3 Fertilizer Plants namely located at Gorakhpur, Barauni and Sindri, and new Fertilizer Unit at Durgapur.
• North East Region (NER) Gas Grid: A joint venture of five (05) oil and gas CPSEs i.e. GAIL, IOCL, OIL, ONGC, and NRL named as “Indradhanush Gas Grid Ltd” (IGGL) has been entrusted to develop trunk pipeline connectivity in all North Eastern States i.e. Assam, Sikkim, Mizoram, Manipur, Arunachal Pradesh, Tripura, Nagaland and Meghalaya in a phased manner.
• Kochi-Koottanad- Bangalore-Mangalore (Ph-II) Pipeline Project (KKBMPL)
• Ennore-Thiruvallur-Bangalore-Nagapattinum– Madurai – Tuticorin Natural gas pipeline (ETBNMTPL): This pipeline will connect new Ennore LNG Terminal with various demand centers in the region.