MINISTER OF PETROLEUM AND NATURAL GAS
(SHRI DHARMENDRA PRADHAN)
(a) to (e) Petroleum & Natural Gas Regulatory Board (PNGRB) is the authority to grant authorization to the entities for the development of City Gas Distribution (CGD) network in Geographical Areas (GAs) as per PNGRB Act, 2006. Providing Compressed Natural Gas (CNG) Stations and Piped Natural Gas (PNG) connection to household is part of development of CGD network and the same is carried out by the entities viz. Public Sector Undertaking (PSU)/ subsidiary of PSU/ Joint Venture (JV) of PSUs/ Private Company/JV of PSU and Private Company etc. authorized by PNGRB based on techno-commercial viability of area. So far PNGRB has authorized 230 GAs for development of CGD network across country up to 10th CGD Bidding Round covering more than 400 districts in the country in 27
States/UTs which covers around 71% of India’s population and 53 % of area. At present, there are about 2004 CNG stations in the country. Further, as per minimum work programme, the authorized CGD entities have committed to set up CNG Stations across the country. Motor vehicles operate on various fuels including Petrol, Diesel and CNG based on market mechanism and choice. Natural gas being an alternate environment friendly fuel, government has issued policy guidelines to supply domestic gas, which is cheaper than imported gas for meeting the entire requirement of CNG (Transport) and PNG (Domestic) segments of CGD sector.
(f) The various policy initiatives taken by the Government to increase domestic production of oil and gas include:
i. Policy for Relaxations, Extensions and Clarifications under Production Sharing Contract (PSC) regime for early monetization of hydrocarbon discoveries,
ii. Discovered Small Field Policy
iii. Hydrocarbon Exploration and Licensing Policy
iv. Policy for Extension of Production Sharing Contracts
v. Policy for early monetization of Coal Bed Methane
vi. Setting up of National Data Repository
vii. Appraisal of Unappraised areas in Sedimentary Basins
viii. Re-assessment of Hydrocarbon Resources
ix. Policy framework to streamline the working of Production Sharing Contracts in Pre-NELP and NELP Blocks
x. Policy to Promote and Incentivize Enhanced Recovery Methods for Oil and Gas
xi. Policy framework for exploration and exploitation of Unconventional Hydrocarbons under existing Production Sharing Contracts, Coal Bed Methane contracts and Nomination fields.
The Government in February, 2019 approved major reforms in exploration and licensing policy to enhance exploration activities, attract domestic and foreign investment in unexplored/unallocated areas of sedimentary basins and accelerate domestic production of oil and gas from existing fields. The policy reforms inter alia aims to boost exploration activities with greater weightage to work programme, simplified fiscal and contractual terms, bidding of exploration blocks under Category II and III sedimentary basins without any production or revenue sharing to Government, early monetization of discoveries by extending
fiscal incentives, incentivizing gas production including marketing and pricing freedom, induction of latest technology and capital, more functional freedom to National Oil Companies for collaboration and private sector participation for production enhancement methods in nomination fields, streamlining approval processes and promoting ease of doing business including electronic single window mechanism.
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