CNG prices hiked by R1.75/kg in Delhi

New Delhi:Indraprastha Gas Ltd (IGL) has raised prices of compressed natural gas ( CNG) by 1.75 per kg beginning Saturday because of a weakening rupee and a halt in cheaper domestic supplies from Reliance Industries' D6 block.

Vehicle owners will have to pay 1.75 per kg more in Delhi and 2 extra in Noida, Greater Noida and Ghaziabad, a company statement said. CNG prices were last raised three months ago.

"We have been forced to increase the retail price of CNG due to a major increase in the input cost of the entire pool of natural gas being sourced by us as a result of the recent appreciation of dollar and the increased dependence on imported spot regassified liquefied natural gas (R-LNG)," IGL managing director M Ravindran said.

IGL has, however, spared household consumers using piped natural gas (PNG) but a price hike looks imminent if imports of costly R-LNG continue, company executives said requesting anonymity. Imported gas is over four times costlier than the D6 gas, which is sold at $4.20 per unit. IGL had raised PNG rates on September 1 from 18.95 per unit to 22 per unit.

With a complete halt in KG-D6 supplies due to decrease in production, IGL is left with no other alternative but to source costly spot R-LNG to meet the ever-increasing demand, Ravindran said.

"The base price of natural gas procured by IGL from all its sources (APM, KG-D6 and long term and spot R-LNG) is in dollars, which has appreciated by 14% vis-Ã -vis the rupee since the last price revision of CNG," he said.

Ravindran said the impact on the per-km running cost of vehicles would be minor. "For autos, the increase would be 5 paise per km, for taxis 8 paise and in case of buses it would be 50 paise, which translates into less than a paisa per passenger-km."

CNG will now cost 33.75 per kg in Delhi and 37.90 per kg in Noida, Greater Noida and Ghaziabad.