GAIL to focus on creating infra for gas-based economy

New Delhi: GAIL India Ltd, the country's largest gas utility, will invest Rs 1.05 lakh crore over the next five years to expand pipelines, lay city gas distribution network and raise petrochemical production capacity, its new chairman and managing director Manoj Jain said on Monday.

Gas pipelines are planned to take the fuel to the east and northeast regions as well as to consumers in the south as part of the government push to raise the share of natural gas in India's energy basket to 15 per cent by 2030 from the current 6.2 per cent, he said.

"We have planned a capex of Rs 45,000 to Rs 50,000 crore in laying pipelines, Rs 10,000 crore petrochemical capacity expansion and another Rs 40,000 crore for city gas distribution (CGD) business," he told reporters here.

GAIL's push for infrastructure creation is in line with Prime Minister Narendra Modi's vision of creating a gas-based economy that is less reliant on polluting fuels for meeting its energy needs.

India currently consumes some 160 million standard cubic meters of gas per day and the consumption has to rise to 600 mmscmd to reach 15 per cent share in the energy mix, and GAIL is laying the infrastructure to help achieve that.

At present, GAIL operates 12,160-km of pipeline network and markets two-thirds of all-natural gas sold in the country. It will add about 7,000 km of pipeline length in the next five years, Jain said.

The company is scaling up on liquefied natural gas (LNG) import capacity.

Besides owning a part of Petronet LNG Ltd, India's biggest liquid gas importer, it also owns and operates a 5 million tonnes LNG import facility at Dabhol in Maharashtra.