City gas licence for 65 areas to be bid out in eleventh round: PNGRB

New Delhi: Oil regulator PNGRB will offer 65 geographical areas including Jammu, Nagpur, Pathankot and Madurai in the 11th city gas licensing round, the dates of which will be announced shortly.

The 11th city gas distribution (CGD) bidding round will comprise 65 geographical areas, Petroleum and Natural Gas Regulatory Board (PNGRB) said in a statement.

"Presently there are 228 Geographical Areas authorized by PNGRB in 27 states and UTs covering approximately 53 per cent of the country's geographical area and 70 per cent of its population.

"In the last CGD bidding round, i.e., the 10th CGD bidding round, 50 Geographical Areas (GAs) were authorized for development of CGD network," it said.

During 2018 and 2019, PNGRB gave out licences to retail CNG to automobiles and piped cooking gas to household kitchens in 136 GAs. This extended coverage of the city gas network to 406 districts and around 70 per cent of the country's population.

The push for city gas expansion is part of the government's plan for raising the share of natural gas in the country's energy basket to 15 per cent by 2030 from the current

6.3 per cent.

"The launch date of the 11th CGD bidding round and the start of bidding shall be notified vide subsequent public notices," PNGRB said.

While 86 GAs, made up of 174 districts, were offered for bidding in the 9th round that concluded in August 2018, 50 GAs, comprising 124 districts, were offered in the 10th round in 2019.