S Krishnan, Chairman of Petroleum and Natural Gas Regulatory Board (PNGRB) informed that the government would make public the fresh guidelines on bidding for the city gas distribution (CGD) networks in the country for public feedback in 12 weeks.
Krishnan informed this on the sidelines of a seminar on natural gas. He also said that the board would then issue the final guidelines after inviting opinions from public and other stakeholders.
In November last year, the board cancelled the fourth round of bidding for city gas distribution (CGD) networks on concerns of irrational price bids filed by some in an attempt to get the CGD regions. Since then, companies have been awaiting fresh guidelines.
However, the guidelines alone would not help if the challenges in terms of availability of gas besides achieving a right mix of various sources of gas to make these projects viable were not addressed in right earnest, he said.
The challenge is to bring the natural gas share in total energy basket to 25 per cent from the present 10 per cent level, he said. The natural gas scenario in the country is expected to turn positive in the next 3-4 years once the transnational pipelines and the additional infrastructure to import liquefied natural gas (LNG) are set up.
Efforts were also being made to meet short-term requirement through floating terminals for LNG supplies, he said.
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