Bhubaneshwar: Petroleum and Natural Gas Regulatory Board (PNGRB) organised tenth roadshow for 9th City Gas Distribution (CGD) Bidding Round at Bhubaneshwar on 09.06.2018.
The event started with the welcome speech by Shri S. Rath, Member, PNGRB. Mr, Rath spoke about the importance of the meet and work done by PNGRB. He spoke to investors and said that this is a big initiative towards providing clean energy to the users in Odisha. He spoke on an overwhelming response in the nine roadshows held so far, where investors showed keen interest to work with us for City Gas Distribution Projects in various Geographical Areas (GA’s) of India offered by PNGRB in the “9th CGD Bidding Round”. Shri Rath also spoke about India’s story in the natural gas sector, increasing LNG imports and a widening supply and demand gap that is unlikely to be filled in the coming years. This scenario, along with the country’s commitment at COP21, has pushed the Indian government to bring in sweeping policy changes that are giving a boost to the domestic gas market.
Shri Adil Zaidi, Partner, EY, shared the overview and Industry perspective of Oil and Gas sector in India and how Odisha can adopt the City Gas Distribution (CGD) in its cities. He shared that the demand for petroleum products is expected to increase by 31% to reach 244 MMT by 2021-22 and the demand for natural gas is expected to increase by 28% to reach 606 MMSCMD by 2021-22 as against demand of 606 MMSCMD in 2016-17. Mr Zaidi emphasised on the need for adopting CGD as national priority over next 10 years.
In the roadshow, Shri. D.K. Sarraf, Chairperson, PNGRB spoke about India as one of the fastest growing economies in the world. Speaking about the Oil & Gas sector, he shared that as a part of the wider ‘Energy Security’ program, the government has set a goal to reduce 10 percent of crude oil imports by 2022. Shri. Sarraf spoke upon the focus of PNGRB on increasing the share of Natural Gas in the Energy basket of India. He also shared how City Gas Distribution (CGD) network business holds ample prospects and opportunities for the investors.
Shri Dharmendra Pradhan, Hon’ble Minister of Petroleum and Natural Gas; Minister of Skill Development & Entrepreneurship gave the Keynote Address at the roadshow. In this speech he shared that under the leadership of Hon’ble Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi, the central government has a clear vision for the future of India’s energy sector and Country’s energy security. He said that the central government is working to ensure that all people have access to clean, affordable and reliable energy, and to make India a welcoming haven for investments across the energy sector.
He highlighted that PNGRB has identified 7 (seven) geographical areas covering 17 districts of Odisha for 9th CGD Bidding Round for the investors. These include Angul, Dhenkanal, Sundargarh, Jharsuguda, Balasore, Bhadrak, Mayurbhanj, Bargarh, Debagarh, Sambalpur, Ganjam, Nayagarh, Puri, Jagatsinghapur, Kendrapara, Jajpur and Kendujhar. Almost half of Odisha will be covered in this round. This will reduce pollution, gas based industries will rise in numbers creating employment opportunities in the state.
The Petroleum and Natural Gas Regulatory Board (PNGRB) has envisaged a phased roll out plan for development of CGD networks in several parts of the country including the cities approved under SMART Cities program for which “9th CGD Bidding Round” is being conducted by PNGRB. Also, CGD networks for identified cities are being considered in a phased manner depending on the natural gas pipeline connectivity/ natural gas availability.
The roadshow was concluded by Shri Satpal Garg, Member, PNGRB. Shri. Garg highlighted that India will surely meet the expectation as envisaged by it, which is, to develop City Gas Distribution (CGD) networks in several parts of the country including Odisha, in a phased manner through “9th CGD Bidding Round”. He said that the Government recognizes the special characteristics of Odisha for Oil & Gas sector, thus it urge to develop Odisha with a gas based economy.
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