India to invest $60bn to develop gas infrastructure

India has unveiled plans to invest around $60bn over the next four years to create gas infrastructure in the country.

In an event, Indian Petroleum Minister Dharmendra Pradhan made this statement as the government seeks to increase the share of natural gas in the nation’s energy mix from the existing 6% to 15% by 2030.

Minister Pradhan was quoted by the news agency PTI as saying: “On the investments front, we have envisaged a $60bn spend in creating gas infrastructure till 2024, including for pipelines, LNG terminals and CGD (city gas distribution) networks.

“We are ushering a gas-based economy by increasing the share of natural gas in India’s primary energy mix from 6.2% to 15% by year 2030.”

Earlier this year, the first automated national-level gas trading platform in the country was launched to facilitate trading and support robustness of the market.

Additionally, the minister said that city gas distribution (CGD) projects have been expanded to include 232 geographical areas spread over 400 districts.

Minister Pradhan was further quoted by PTI as saying: “We are adopting clean mobility solutions with greater use of LNG (liquefied natural gas) as a transportation fuel, including long haul trucking.

“We plan to have 1,000 LNG fuel stations across the country. Last month, foundation stone was laid for the nation’s first 50 LNG fuel stations.”

He further said that the Covid-19 pandemic continues to impede normal activity in the sector.

Last month, it was reported the government is planning to double its oil refining capacity over the next five years, accelerating previously announced plans.