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NEW DELHI : Energy major Indian Oil Corporation Ltd (IndianOil) plans to invest ₹7,000 crore in new city gas distribution (CGD) projects.
On Sunday, the state-run energy company announced that it has secured nearly 33% of the demand potential in the recently concluded 11th round of CGD bidding by Petroleum & Natural Gas Regulatory Board (PNGRB).
"The nearest competing bidder was left with less than 20% of the demand potential in the bidding round in which IndianOil bagged 9 out of the 15 high potential geographical areas (GA). With this substantial win in the 11th bidding round, IndianOil and its associates would service almost 28% of the combined CGD potential in the 3 rounds of bidding till now, which is far ahead of the next major player," said a company statement.
Its recently acquired geographical areas include the districts of Jammu, Pathankot, Sikar, Jalgaon, Guntur (Amravati), Tuticorin, Tirunelveli, Kanyakumari, Madurai, Dharmapuri and Haldia (East Mednipore). The statement said that these districts contain high demand customers across the Industry-Commercial-Domestic spectrum for piped natural gas (PNG) and compressed natural gas (CNG).
"IndianOil plans to invest over ₹7,000 crore in these new CGD projects, over and above the ₹20,000 crore already planned for its CGD vertical," it said.
Chairman of IndianOil, Shrikant Madhav Vaidya said: "Our concerted efforts to expand the Gas business across the length and breadth of the country reflects our commitment to realise the government's vision of raising the share of natural gas to 15%. Gas will play a significant role in India’s march towards a low carbon future as part of its 'Panchamrit' pledge during COP-26 summit to reduce total carbon emissions by one billion tonnes from now till 2030."
"With our intelligently aggressive approach in the latest CGD bidding process, we have been able to secure nine high market potential GAs that cover 26 districts spread across the country. And with this, IndianOil is poised to emerge as a dominant player in Indian CGD market," he added.
Post the 11th round of CGD Bidding, the public sector energy major along with its two joint venture companies is now present in 49 geographical areas and 105 districts spread across 21 states and union territories. On standalone basis, IndianOil will now have presence in 26 geographical areas and 68 districts spread across 11 states and union territories covering nearly 20% of the total CGD market potential in geographical areas announced recently in three bidding rounds.
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