From homes to eateries: IGL scales up PNG rollout across Delhi-NCR

From police stations to fast-food outlets, Indraprastha Gas Ltd (IGL) is expanding its piped natural gas (PNG) network across Delhi-NCR as it looks to grow its user base and ease pressure on liquefied petroleum gas (LPG), its chief executive Kamal Kishore Chatiwal said.

The push comes amid disruptions to energy supplies following the West Asia conflict, with the government encouraging wider adoption of PNG as an alternative to LPG due to its diversified sourcing and lower dependence on the Gulf region.

“We were (before the West Asia crisis) providing 600-700 PNG connections per day, which have scaled up to 2,100-2,200 a day now. The ultimate target is to take them to 5,000 connections,” IGL Managing Director Chatiwal said.

Alongside expanding connections to household kitchens, IGL is targeting fast-food chains that were affected by LPG supply disruptions after the government prioritised available cooking gas for domestic use.

The company has already connected over 100 outlets of two leading fast-food chains with PNG, while a similar number of outlets are in the process of being connected. In total, around 400 such outlets are being targeted.

IGL is also working to provide PNG connections to every police station in Delhi. Police station cafeterias and canteens currently using LPG are expected to benefit from PNG connections, which remove the need for cylinder refills.

Connaught Place (CP), a colonnaded commercial hub in New Delhi, had not been connected to PNG earlier due to permission issues. Work has now started after the government relaxed norms to speed up PNG penetration. The pipeline has reached the outer circle of CP, an official said.

Chatiwal said India has sufficient availability of natural gas for supply to households, industries and commercial establishments such as hotels and restaurants.

India produces around 92 million standard cubic metres per day of natural gas, while total consumption through city gas — including PNG and CNG — is less than a third of that volume.

In contrast, a large portion of LPG is imported, with significant supplies coming from Gulf countries including Saudi Arabia and Qatar.

“We are targeting 4.85 lakh new PNG connections in the next 90 days across the geographical areas (GAs) we operate in,” he said.

IGL operates a city gas distribution network across Delhi, Noida, Greater Noida, Ghaziabad, Rewari, Gurugram, Karnal, Kaithal, Fatehpur, Ajmer, Pali, Rajsamand, Hamirpur, Shamli, Muzaffarnagar, Banda, and parts of Kanpur and Meerut. Its infrastructure includes more than 28,000 kilometres of pipeline.

The company supplies fuel to over 2.1 million vehicles running on CNG through a network of more than 950 stations and has connected over three million households to PNG.

In Delhi, IGL is identifying areas where full PNG penetration is possible and aims to make them LPG-free. Areas including New Moti Bagh, East Kidwai Nagar and West Kidwai Nagar have already achieved this.

Amid limited LPG availability for both domestic and commercial use, the government last month mandated households to switch to PNG in areas where piped gas connectivity exists.

Under this mandate, consumers with access to both PNG and LPG must surrender their LPG connection within 90 days, failing which cylinder supplies will be discontinued. Exemptions apply where PNG connectivity is technically not feasible, subject to a no-objection certificate.

India consumes about 31.3 million tonnes of LPG annually, with domestic production meeting around 40 per cent of demand and the remainder imported. Nearly 90 per cent of these imports pass through the Strait of Hormuz, a key global energy route that was blocked during the West Asia conflict.

(With inputs from PTI)