Indian Oil To Pump In Rs 7,000 Cr In City Gas Distribution Networks

IOC secured 33 per cent of the demand potential that was up for grabs in the recently concluded 11th round of CGD bidding

IOC’s acquired GAs include major districts like Jammu, Pathankot, Sikar, Jalgaon, Guntur (Amravati), Tuticorin, Tirunelveli, Kanyakumari, Madurai, Dharmapuri, and Haldia. Image: Getty

New Delhi: Indian Oil Corporation (IOC) has said it will invest over Rs 7,000 crore in setting up city gas distribution (CGD) networks in the cities for which it has secured a licence in the latest bidding round.

IOC secured 33 per cent of the demand potential that was up for grabs in the recently concluded 11th round of CGD bidding, cornering cities from Jammu to Madurai to Haldia, the firm said.

Of the 61 geographical areas or GAs that received bids in the 11th round CGD bidding, IOC got 9 licenses to retail CNG to automobiles and piped cooking gas to households. Though the GAs it won were less than Megha Engineering and Infrastructures’s 15 licences and Adani Total Gas Ltd’s 14, in the terms of demand potential it got the maximum.

“The nearest competing bidder was left with less than 20 per cent of the demand potential in the bidding round in which IOC bagged 9 out of the 15 high potential GAs,” the company said in a statement.

“With this substantial win in the 11th bidding round, IOC and its associates would service almost 28 per cent of the combined CGD potential in the 3 rounds of bidding till now, which is far ahead of the next major player.”

The Petroleum and Natural Gas Regulatory Board last week opened the bids and decided on preliminary winners.

IOC’s acquired GAs include major districts like Jammu, Pathankot, Sikar, Jalgaon, Guntur (Amravati), Tuticorin, Tirunelveli, Kanyakumari, Madurai, Dharmapuri, and Haldia (East Midnapore).

These districts contain high demand customers across the industry-commercial-domestic spectrum for PNG (Piped Natural Gas) and CNG (Compressed Natural Gas).

“IndianOil plans to invest over Rs 7,000 Crore in these new CGD Projects, over and above the Rs 20,000 crore already planned for its CGD Vertical,” the statement said.

Speaking on the occasion, IOC Chairman 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 per cent,” he said.