Govt opens 12th city gas bid round

Petroleum and natural gas minister Hardeep Puri launched the 12th city gas distribution bidding round on Thursday, which offered licences for seven geographical areas (GAs) spread over five states and two union territories. The areas on offer cover 92 districts in Arunachal Pradesh, Meghalaya, Manipur, Nagaland, Sikkim, Jammu & Kashmir and Ladakh.

The latest licensing round will expand city gas coverage to almost the entire country. City gas licences distributed over the 11 rounds so far already cover 98% of the nation’s population and 88% of its area. Puri said the Petroleum and Natural Gas Regulatory Board (PNGRB) will now work on taking city gas supplies to the country’s islands.

In the 12th round, a GA covers a full state, unlike in previous rounds when it was limited to a district or two, said Gajendra Singh, member, PNGRB. The main gas pipeline in the Northeast touches all the state capitals. The Gurdaspur-Jammu pipeline, being built by GAIL, will take natural gas supplies to J&K.