NEW DELHI: The oil ministry has ordered the diversion of natural gas from industries to the city gas distribution sector to cool CNG and piped cooking gas prices that have shot up by 70% on the use of imported fuel.
Less than three months after it ordered the use of costlier imported LNG to meet incremental demand for automobile fuel CNG and household kitchen gas PNG, the ministry on August 10 reverted to an old policy of primarily supplying domestically produced gas for city gas operations.
The allocation for city gas operators like Indraprastha Gas in Delhi and Mahanagar Gas of Mumbai has been increased from 17. 5 million standard cubic meters per day (mmscmd) to 20. 8 mmscmd, officials said. The increased allocation will meet 94% of the demand for CNG to automobiles and piped cooking gas to household kitchens in the country. Earlier, 83-84% of the demand was met and the remaining was met through the import of LNG by GAIL, they said.
