India adds Mizoram to city gas bidding round

Market: Natural gas
28/11/23

India has added Mizoram state to its 12th city gas distribution bidding round, which offers areas in Jammu and Kashmir, Ladakh and northeast India to connect to the pipeline network.

Areas in the northeast region include Arunachal Pradesh, Meghalaya, Manipur, Nagaland and Sikkim. The Andaman and Nicobar Islands, as well as Lakshadweep, will be the only areas unconnected to the city gas grid following completion of the 12th bidding round.

Electronic bids for Mizoram can be submitted from 25 November, with the last date for submission being 23 February 2024. The last date for bid submission for areas in Jammu and Kashmir, Ladakh and other parts of northeast India is 11 January 2024. The 12th bidding round is expected to be finalised by March 2024.

The inclusion of Mizoram is likely to have been triggered by an election in the state, where India's federal ruling BJP party is contesting against the ruling Mizo National Front and a six-party alliance of the Zoram People's Movement and Congress, along with other smaller political parties and independent candidates.

"At present about a 23,500km-long gas pipeline network is under operation in the country and around 12,000km pipeline is approved/under construction," oil and gas minister Hardeep Singh Puri said last month.

India had 300 city gas distribution networks under the Petroleum and Natural Gas Regulatory Board as of August, covering 88pc of the country's geographical area and 98pc of the population, according to the government. The government has outlined plans to make India a gas-based economy, with the share of natural gas in its primary energy mix targeted to rise to 15pc by 2030 from around 6pc in 2022.

The Paris-based IEA forecasts that India's natural gas demand will increase by 4pc this year and grow at an average rate of over 8pc/yr in 2022-26, adding over 20bn m³ of incremental demand.

India's natural gas demand fell by 6.3pc to 60.4bn m³ in 2022, oil ministry data show.

By Rituparna Ghosh

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