New Delhi: In order to reduce the country’s dependence on crude oil and promote the use of clean energy for long haul truck and bus operations, oil marketing companies will set up 1,000 LNG stations along the major national highways across the country in the next three years. It will attract an investment of Rs 10,000 crore in the sector, said petroleum minister Dharmendra Pradhan.
Pradhan Thursday laid the foundation stone for the first 50 LNG fueling stations that will be set up on the golden quadrilateral highways connecting the top four metros - Delhi, Mumbai, Chennai and Kolkata.
The initiative is part of Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s ambitious programme to increase the share of natural gases such as CNG, PNG, LPG and LNG in the country’s energy mix from present 6.3% to 15% in the next 10 years.
The government has been testing the use of LNG as a preferred fuel for long haul commercial operations for the last five years.
Pradhan said it would not only bring down the cost of operations by 30-40% in comparison with diesel vehicles but will also protect the environment as well.
Pradhan said there will be enormous benefits even if just 10% of the country’s 10 million trucks opt LNG as fuel.
He said that the Government will continue to promote CNG vehicles, Electric vehicles, Auto-LPG, but at the same time, LNG as long-haul fuel will be pushed.
LNG is preferred by the long haul transporters due to the high density of energy it offers over other natural gases such as compressed natural gas (CNG) and Auto LPG.
Petroleum secretary Tarun Kapoor said the government is making a long-term plan to promote LNG.
Kapoor said the trial of the fuel was started in 2015, and it is now ready to take off on the commercial scale.
50 LNG stations to be set up in 12 states
The country’s largest oil marketing company Indian Oil will set up 20 LNG stations, while BPCL and HPCL each will set up 11 stations and rest 8 stations will be set up by GAIL, PLL, Gujarat Gas and their joint venture, and their subsidiary companies.
Gujarat, which accounts for two-third of the country's LNG import capacity, will get the maximum 10 LNG stations, followed by Maharashtra and Tamil Nadu which will get 8 stations each as they too have LNG import terminals.
Andhra Pradesh will get six LNG pumps, followed by Karnataka which will get 5 LNG stations. Kerala and Rajasthan will get 3 stations each, followed by Uttar Pradesh and Telangana that will get 2 LNG stations each, while Madhya Pradesh, Haryana and Odisha will get one station each.
Pradhan said that the government will set up LNG stations at the distance of 200-300 kilometers on golden quadrilateral, and within 3 years, there will be 1,000 LNG stations on all major roads, industrial hubs and mining areas.
