India is the second-largest operator of gas demand in Asia
Recently, a report by the International Energy Agency (IEA) said that India will be the second largest operator of gas demand in Asia.
India’s annual gas consumption is expected to increase by 25 billion cubic meters during the year 2020-2024.
Key Points
- Gas is mainly used in place of liquid fuels for about two-thirds of this demand.
- To push the gas-based economy, the government aims to increase the share of natural gas in India’s energy basket from 6 per cent to 15 per cent by
Importance of gas based economy:
- Compressed natural gas (CNG) is about 60% cheaper than gasoline and 45% cheaper than diesel.
- It is environment friendly due to low emission of particulate matter. At the same time, it is also helpful in meeting climate change mitigation commitments.
Measures taken by the government
- Natural gas marketing reforms have been announced to increase domestic production and bring about uniformity in market price discovery of gas.
- An investment of $60 billion is planned for building gas infrastructure by 2024, including pipelines and city gas distribution (CGD) networks.
- The eastern and north-eastern parts are being connected to the gas grid by developing the Pradhan Mantri Urja Ganga Project and the Northeast Gas Grid Project.
- A target has been set to set up 10,000 CNG retail outlets (currently 2500) across the country in the next five years.
Source – The Hindu
