New Delhi:
Indian Oil Corporation (IOC) said on Sunday it will invest more than Rs 7,000 crore in setting up town gas distribution networks (CGD) in the cities it has been licensed in the latest bidding round.
IOC secured 33 percent of the demand potential up for grabs in the recently concluded 11th round of CGD bidding, at the bends of cities from Jammu to Madurai to Haldia, the company said.
Of the 61 geographic areas or GAs that received bids in the 11th round of town gas distribution (CGD), the IOC was awarded 9 licenses to sell CNG to automobiles and cooking gas through pipelines to households. Although the GAs it won were less than the 15 licenses from Megha Engineering and Infrastructures Ltd and the 14 from Adani Total Gas Ltd, it maxed out in terms of demand potential.
“The closest competing bidder was left with less than 20 percent of demand potential in the bidding round in which the IOC won 9 out of 15 high-potential GAs,” the company said in a statement.
“With this substantial win in the 11th bidding round, IOC and its collaborators could serve nearly 28 percent of the combined CGD potential in the 3 bidding rounds so far, which is well ahead of the next major player.” The Petroleum and Natural Gas Regulatory Board (PNGRB) opened bidding last week and decided on preliminary winners.
IOCs acquired GAs include major districts such as Jammu, Pathankot, Sikar, Jalgaon, Guntur (Amravati), Tuticorin, Tirunelveli, Kanyakumari, Madurai, Dharmapuri and Haldia (Eastern Midnapore).
These districts contain high-demand customers in the industrial-commercial-domestic spectrum for PNG (Piped Natural Gas) and CNG (Compressed Natural Gas).
“IndianOil plans to invest more than Rs 7,000 crore in these new CGD projects, on top of the Rs 20,000 crore already planned for its CGD Vertical,” the statement said.
On the occasion, IOC President Shrikant Madhav Vaidya said the company has a proud legacy of always aligning its growth agenda with national priorities.