A study to facilitate the development of a National Gas Grid is to be undertaken soon by a U.S. entity. The Government has last year envisaged developing the NGG.

National Gas Grid

• At present about 16,788 Km natural gas pipeline is operational and about 14,239 Km gas pipelines are being developed to increase the availability of natural gas across the country.
• These pipelines have been authorized by Petroleum and Natural Gas Regulatory Board (PNGRB) and are at various stages of execution viz. Pre-Project activities/laying/testing/commissioning etc.

Aims and Objective

• To remove regional imbalance within the country with regard to access of 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.
• Development of City Gas Distribution Networks in various cities for supply of CNG and PNG.

NGG Technical Assistance Program

• The India NGG Technical Assistance programme stems from an agreement in September between PNGRB and the US Trade Development Agency (USTDA).
• The study will aim at developing an economic basis for building India’s Natural Gas Grid (NGG).

Utility of the study

• It would provide an update on the gas demand analysis, including anchor consumers, industries, city gas distribution (CGD) and emerging demand centres such as CNG and LNG for road transport.
• The study will take a fresh look at the gas supply analysis too. This includes review of LNG imports, domestic supply, potential transnational gas pipeline imports and virtual pipelines.
• Share of natural gas in India’s energy basket is 6.2% as against 23.4% globally and is expected to increase.

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