India to invest $66B in natural gas infrastructure, to include biogas

December 6, 2020 |

In India, Business Today reports that the country’s Oil Minister Dharmendra Pradhan said an estimated investment of $66 billion is lined up in developing natural gas infrastructure, which includes pipelines, city gas distribution, and LNG regasification terminals and that the government is pushing for generating gas from municipal and agri waste and 5000 compressed biogas plants are planned.

The government is targeting raising the share of natural gas in its energy basket to 15 per cent by 2030 from the current 6.3 per cent, according to Business Today.

Pradhan also said apart from achieving the renewable energy target of 450 gigawatts (GW) by 2030, India will focus on developing in an integrated manner a gas-based economy, cleaner use of fossil fuels, greater reliance on domestic fuels to drive biofuels and moving into emerging fuels, like hydrogen, according to Business Today.

“Recently, we have laid the foundation stone for the first 50 LNG fueling stations across the golden quadrilateral and major National Highways. Our goal is to set up 1000 LNG stations within 3 years which is likely to add about 20-25 mmscmd of new gas demand by 2035,” he said.

“Biofuel is not just science but also a Mantra that will provide new energy to not only India but also the entire world. It has the power to create a balance between our environment and economic development,” he said. “We are keen to expand the use of biofuels in the aviation sector to meet the new ICAO standards.”

“There is also an increased push to adopt hydrogen fuel mix. Last month, we launched the Hydrogen enriched- Compressed Natural Gas (HCNG) plant and dispensing station in Delhi and also rolled out the first set of buses with HCNG,” he said. Pradhan said historically, global economic growth and the need for energy resources have been synchronous.

Category: Policy

Thank you for visting the Digest.