India’s Energy Inflection: PNGRB & IGL convene strategic dialogue to discuss energy security

NEW DELHI: As India navigates a pivotal shift in its global energy standing, the Petroleum and Natural Gas Regulatory Board (PNGRB) and Indraprastha Gas Limited (IGL), on Thursday convened a high-intensity dialogue titled “Energy Security: Driving India’s Next Wave of Gas Demand.” This two day session brought together an unprecedented assembly of senior policymakers, heads of global as well as Indian energy majors, and institutional advisors with the singular objective of charting a definitive, executable path-way to increase natural gas’s share in India’s primary energy mix to 15 per cent by 2030. As a cornerstone of India’s city gas distribution network, IGL organised this session to align industry leadership with the government’s vision of a system-wide transformation of the national energy architecture.

Dr. Neeraj Mittal, IAS, Secretary, Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Gas, during his speech, called upon CGDs to accelerate and simplify the process of PNG connections. He also highlighted that India sources crude oil from 41 countries, natural gas from 30 countries, and LPG from 13 countries, and these factors must be considered while framing future energy security policies. He assured that the government is committed to ensuring that gas is available to all entities, and the government is also focusing on diversification so that such crises do not impact supplies.

Dr. Anil Kumar Jain, PNGRB Chairperson called for synchronized infrastructure and market reforms to achieve a 15 per cent gas share by 2030, urging industry leaders to accelerate execution and fulfill milestones to ensure energy security, affordability, and a cleaner, more resilient national energy architecture.

Kamal Kishore Chatiwal, Managing Director, IGL, in his earlier welcome note mentioned that IGL remains commit-ted to advancing the government’s vision to increase the share of Natural Gas in the primary energy mix by continu-ously expanding IGL’s network, enhancing operational efficiency and delivering safe and sustainable energy solutions to our customers.

India’s natural gas demand is projected to grow by nearly 60 per cent by 2030, and the dialogue emphasized that IGL’s opera-tional roadmap remains strictly in line with the session’s core agenda of advancing energy security and sustainability. By driving structural shifts in industrial fuel switching and transport decarbonization, IGL is actively facilitating the transition from a 6 per cent gas share to a resilient 15 per cent gas-based economy.

The leadership emphasized that this growth is con-tingent upon four critical enablers: synchronized infrastructure build-out, market-oriented pricing, regulatory stability, and secured LNG supply chains. IGL’s commitment to expanding domestic PNG connections and scaling CNG infra-structure serves as a practical blueprint for the “decision-enabling insights” sought during this high-impact discussion.

The agenda was structured to move beyond traditional diagnosis toward actionable outcomes, focusing on how col-laborative efforts can stabilize the gas value chain from upstream production to end-use adoption. Participants en-gaged in rigorous debate regarding the implementation of the recent Natural Gas and Petroleum Products Distribution Order, 2026, and the role of anchor loads in ensuring the viability of new pipeline networks. By hosting this dialogue, IGL has positioned itself at the forefront of the regulatory and market evolution necessary to meet India’s 2030 tar-gets.

The session concluded with a unified call for coordinated action to ensure that natural gas remains a reliable and affordable bridge fuel for India’s industrial and domestic sectors.