Foundation stone laid for India’s first 50 LNG fueling stations
Accelerating efforts towards transforming India into a Gas-based economy, Dharmendra Pradhan, Minister of Petroleum and Natural Gas laid the foundation stone for the country’s first 50 LNG fuelling stations. To be commissioned and set up in partnership by BPCL, IOCL, GAIL, HPCL, PLL, and Gujarat Gas, besides the subsidiaries and Joint Venture Companies of all these Oil and Gas majors, these LNG fuelling stations will come up along golden quadrilateral and various national highways. Pradhan said LNG is the fuel of the future as it causes less pollution and it’s also 40% cheaper than diesel.
These 50 stations will make LNG available for heavy vehicles. The Government aims to set up LNG stations at every 200-300 km distance on the golden quadrilateral in three years. Expressing confidence that 10 percent of trucks will use LNG as fuel, Pradhan divulged plans of launching 1000 LNG stations across major roads, mining areas, and industrial hubs.
He added that the government will continue to promote Electric vehicles, CNG vehicles as well as Auto-LPG, but simultaneously it will push LNG in the form of long-haul fuel and that its increased consumption will also help in reducing the country’s current dependence on crude oil.
Considering its various benefits in terms of bringing a considerable reduction in vehicular pollution, besides huge savings in import bills, LNG has been identified by the Government as the most significant transport fuel. The initiative is expected to hold wide-ranging benefits for the entities in the gas sector, vehicle manufacturers, and fleet operators as well.
The operators of LNG-based trucks can look forward to saving around Rs 2 Lakh per truck per annum that will also help in paying back the higher upfront cost of LNG trucks. The use of LNG will also generate new gas demand of 20-25 MMSCMD by 2035. Being environment-friendly, the natural gas fuel will also significantly provide solutions to various challenges of the environment. Already the Government of India has been focusing on increasing the share of natural gas in primary energy mix to 15% by 2030.
