PNGRB against proposed gas highway authority

Apprehending a curb on its powers, the Petroleum and Natural Gas Regulatory Board (PNGRB), has opposed the setting up of a ‘national gas highway development authority’. The proposed authority will be on the lines of the National Highways Authority of India and aims to facilitate coverage of pipeline network across the country.

“We have circulated a draft note on the proposed gas authority among various ministries and departments. The comments have started coming in. There has been an opposition from PNGRB. But we plan to go ahead with the proposal,” said an official in the Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Gas. The ministry will seek an in-principle approval from the Cabinet for setting up the authority.

Currently, the PNGRB Act empowers the Board to authorise entities to lay, build, operate or expand city or local natural gas distribution network. However, with the creation of another authority, it is certain to lose these powers.

When asked about the opposition, PNGRB Chairman L Mansingh said the ministry had sought comments of the Board. “We have given our comments,” he said, while refusing to say anything further. The ministry and the board have not been on the best of terms, especially since the ministry has not yet notified section 16 of the PNGRB Act that empowers the board to issue authorisation to companies for laying natural gas pipelines. The board is also locked in a legal dispute with the government-owned Indraprastha Gas Ltd.

Petroleum Secretary R S Pandey said last month that there would be no overlapping of functions of the gas highway authority and PNGRB, and the purpose of creating the new authority was to expand the pipeline network. “Till the time the new authority is created, it (PNGRB) will continue to have the power of tariff fixation,” Pandey said, while adding that one of the two bodies would later get the powers.

In his Budget speech this year, Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee said the government proposed to develop a blueprint for long-distance gas highways, leading to a national grid to facilitate transportation of gas across the country.

The gas availability will ensure rapid industrialisation and help the growth of small and large units, apart from connecting households to piped gas supply.

With the recent find of natural gas in the Krishna-Godavari basin in the eastern offshore of the country, indigenous production is set to double, with natural gas emerging as an important source of energy. LNG infrastructure in the country is also being expanded. Current domestic gas production is estimated at 141.5 million standard cubic metres a day (mscmd).

At present, the bulk of gas consumption is accounted for by the western and northern states, while the eastern and southern states were lagging due to low gas pipeline density. The purpose behind expanding the existing pipeline network is to bring down the considerable inter-state disparity in gas consumption. Unviable routes where the private sector might not be interested in laying pipeline would be taken up under the gas highway plan. 

Source: Business Standard

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