Piped Gas Network in Tamil Nadu



Piped Gas Network in Tamil Nadu

The Minister of State (I/C) for Petroleum & Natural Gas Shri Dharmendra Pradhan informed the Rajya Sabha in a written reply today that presently no city/town in the State of Tamil Nadu is covered under the piped gas network due to lack of natural gas pipeline connectivity.


Petroleum & Natural Gas Regulatory Board (PNGRB) has envisaged a roll out plan for development of City Gas Distribution (CGD) networks in several Geographical Areas (GAs) in various States wherein GAs are included in bidding rounds in a phased manner depending on natural gas pipeline connectivity/natural gas availability and feasibility for grant of authorisation to develop CGD networks. PNGRB has bid out 20 GAs in 5th round of CGD bidding and has identified 31 GAs for bidding under 6th round of CGD bidding. 106 GAs have further been identified by PNGRB for subsequent bidding rounds subject to natural gas pipeline connectivity.

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Non-Completion of Laying of Gas Pipeline to Goa

The Minister of State (I/C) for Petroleum & Natural Gas Shri Dharmendra Pradhan informed the Rajya Sabha in a written reply today that the gas pipeline to Goa, which is a spurline of Dabhol-Bangalore trunk pipeline has been completed on 18.2.2013. Project has been completed as per set target dates. The estimated cost of the Dabhol-Bengaluru pipeline is Rs. 2490 crores whereas cost of Goa spurline (Gokak to Goa) is approx. Rs 515 crores.

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Introduction of Open Acreage System

The Minister of State (I/C) for Petroleum & Natural Gas Shri Dharmendra Pradhan informed the Rajya Sabha in a written reply today that Government is planning to introduce ‘open acrage’ system under the proposed Uniform Licensing Policy (ULP). Government also proposes to introduce Revenue Sharing Contract model in place of existing Production Sharing Contract (PSC) model.

Some of the major issues/constraints in the existing PSC model are

i. Inadequate incentives for the operator to keep the cost low.

ii. Require constant & micro monitoring by the government to protect the government take leading to procedural delays and arbitrations.

iii. Assessment of recoverable costs leads to dispute between the government and contractor.

iv. Provide opportunity to operator to leverage/ manipulate Investment Multiple in their favor based on which profit sharing is determined.

Comptroller and Auditor-General (C&AG) has observed that the present PSC does not provide adequate incentives to private contractors to reduce capital expenditure so as to enhance the Investment Multiple (Investment Multiple based on which the government take of profit petroleum depends).

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Fire accidents in oil wells

The Minister of State (I/C) for Petroleum & Natural Gas Shri Dharmendra Pradhan informed the Rajya Sabha in a written reply today that an incident of gas leakage from a well KSG#60 at Kharsang field (Arunachal Pradesh) operated by Geo Enpro Petroleum Limited took place on 30.06.2015. However it did not catch fire and was brought under control successfully on 12.7.2015. As per the enquiry conducted by Oil Industry Safety Directorate (OISD), the reasons for this incident was non stabilization of well during the fishing operations.

As per OISD no culpability could be established.

In the case of Olpad incident, based on the enquiry report, Ministry had directed ONGC to ask its sub-committee of Board on Health, Safety and Environment (HSE) to look into organisational set up of HSE, compliance to standard operating procedure, safety audit etc and recommend changes.

In case of gas leakage in Kharsang field, OISD has conducted an enquiry into the matter and has sent its recommendations to the operator with the direction to comply the same.

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Projects of Gail running behind Schedule

The Minister of State (I/C) for Petroleum & Natural Gas Shri Dharmendra Pradhan informed the Rajya Sabha in a written reply today that there are three projects of GAIL which are running behind schedule viz., (i) Kochi-Koottanad-Bangalore-Mangalore gas pipeline phase-II (ii) Vijaypur-Kota pipeline upgradation and laying of spurline to Chittorgarh and (iii) Surat-Paradip pipeline (trunk line and spurline) project. The reasons for delay include legal disputes, non-availability of RoU, delay in getting statutory clearances such as forest clearance, wildlife sanctuary permission, contractual issues, complexity of terrain, non-availability of anchor load customers etc.

Due to involvement of multiple agencies/stakeholders, it is not feasible to attribute delay to an individual.

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Exploration of Shale Gas

The Minister of State (I/C) for Petroleum & Natural Gas Shri Dharmendra Pradhan informed the Rajya Sabha in a written reply today that based on the geo-scientific data collected during the exploration of conventional oil and gas, assessments have been made regarding the likely potential of shale gas resources in the Indian sedimentary basins. Various agencies have estimated the shale gas resource potential in selected sedimentary basins/ sub-basins as indicated below:

I. M/s Schlumberger : 300 to 2100 Trillion Cubic Feet (TCF) of shale gas resource for the country (as available in public domain)

II. Energy Information Administration (EIA), USA in 2013: 584 TCF of shale gas and 87 billion Barrels of shale oil in 4 basins (Cambay Onland, Damodar, Krishna Godavari Onland& Cauvery Onland)

III. ONGC: 187.5 TCF of shale gas in 5 basins (Cambay Onland, Ganga Valley, Assam & Assam Arakan , Krishna Godavari Onland & Cauvery Onland)

IV. Central Mine Planning and Design Institute (CMPDI): 45 TCF of shale gas in 6 sub basins ( Jharia¸ Bokaro, North Karanpura, South Karanpura, Raniganj & Sohagpur)

V. United States Geological Survey (USGS) has also estimated technically recoverable shale gas resources of 6.1 TCF in 3 basins (Cambay Onland, Krishna Godavari Onland & Cauvery Onland). Further, USGS has indicated that these basins have also potential for shale oil.

Government has announced “Policy Guidelines for Exploration and Exploitation of Shale Gas and oil by National Oil Companies under Nomination regime” on 14th October, 2013 allowing ONGC to carry out Shale Gas exploration & exploitation in 50 blocks and Oil India Limited in 05 blocks in the first phase.

There is no agreement with other countries particularly with regard to exploiting of shale gas reservoirs. However a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) was signed between Department of State (DOS), United States of America and Ministry of Petroleum & Natural Gas on 6th November 2010 for “Exchange of knowledge and expertise in the areas concerning Shale Gas resource characterization and assessment in India’’

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Steps for Implementation of Bio-Fuel Programme

The Minister of State (I/C) for Petroleum & Natural Gas Shri Dharmendra Pradhan informed the Rajya Sabha in a written reply today that the Government has launched Ethanol Blended Petrol (EBP) Programme in 2003, which was extended to 20 States and 4 Union Territories with effect from 1st November, 2006 and Public Sector Oil Marketing Companies (OMCs) were directed to sell 5% EBP subject to commercial viability as per Bureau of Indian Standards specifications.

In furtherance to this Programme, Government on 22nd November 2012, inter-alia decided that 5% mandatory ethanol blending with petrol should be implemented across the country and that procurement price of ethanol would be decided henceforth between OMCs and suppliers of ethanol. Pursuant to the above decision, a Gazette Notification was issued by MoP&NG on 2nd January, 2013, directing OMCs to sell ethanol blended petrol with percentage of ethanol upto 10% as per Bureau of Indian Standards (BIS) specification to achieve 5% ethanol blending across the country as a whole.

On 3rd July, 2013, the Government, inter-alia, decided that OMCs should procure ethanol from domestic sources to achieve the mandatory requirement of 5% ethanol blending with petrol in areas/parts of the country where sufficient quantity of ethanol is available. In other parts of the country, blending of ethanol would be increased progressively depending upon the availability of ethanol to reach the 5% mandatory level.

In order to improve the availability of ethanol, on 10th December, 2014, the Government has fixed the price of ethanol in the Range of Rs. 48.50 to Rs. 49.50 per litre, depending upon the distance of distillery from the depot/installation of the OMCs. The rates are inclusive of all central and statutory levies, transportation cost etc, which would be borne by the ethanol suppliers. Further, ethanol produced from other non-food feedstocks besides molasses, like cellulosic and ligno cellulosic materials including petrochemical route, has also been allowed to be procured subject to meeting the relevant BIS specifications.

Besides, Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Gas had announced a Bio-diesel Purchase Policy in October 2005, which became effective from 1.1.2006. Under this policy, OMCs would purchase bio-diesel, meeting the prescribed BIS standard, at a uniform price, as may be decided by the OMCs from time to time, for blending with High Speed Diesel (HSD) to the extent of 5%, at identified 20 purchase centres across the country. Further, the Government is considering to allow the direct sale of Bio-diesel (B100) by private Bio-diesel manufacturers, their authorised dealers and Joint Ventures (JVs) of Oil Marketing Companies (OMCs) authorised by MoP&NG for the limited purpose of blending to bulk consumers.

Ministry of Petroleum & Natural Gas has constituted Working Group on Industry basis in the field of bio-fuel to generate awareness and popularise and increase bio-fuel consumption in coordination with Petroleum Conservation Research Association (PCRA). A National Seminar on “Bio-fuel Programme in India – The Way Forward” was organised by Ministry of Petroleum & Natural Gas on 13.7.2015. In this Seminar, Senior Officers of the Ministry/OMCs, Bio-fuel Producers and Experts in the field came together to deliberate on various issues related to Bio-fuel.

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Utilization of residue Gas in LPG Cylinders

The Minister of State (I/C) for Petroleum & Natural Gas Shri Dharmendra Pradhan informed the Rajya Sabha in a written reply today that OMCs have reported that LPG under normal pressure and temperature, is in gaseous state and liquid LPG is stored in cylinders under moderate pressure. When cylinder is completely exhausted of liquid LPG, it comes in equilibrium with outside atmospheric temperature. Domestic customer uses LPG at very low pressure of 30 GMs/Sq.Cm. through domestic pressure regulator, only some residual vapour remains in the cylinders depending on the room temperature which is insignificantly low.

It is not discharged or used as it continues to remain inside the cylinder. It is discharged only when the cylinder is taken out of service and degassed in a controlled atmosphere.

No specific study on residual gas has been undertaken.

In LPG bottling plant, cylinders are filled accurately within the limits of weights and measures regulations through automatic electric filling scales, followed by 100% post filling checks and statistical quality control checks at plants prior to dispatch to the distributors.

At distributors godown while receiving filled LPG cylinders from supply locations, 10% cylinders are checked for weight as a part of SQC, while all the cylinders are checked for weight before delivery to the customers. Responsible authorities for checking the authenticity of LPG cylinder weight are officials from OMCs and Government as prescribed in Gas Control Order 2000.

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Legal disputes pending against Gail 
             The Minister of State (I/C) for Petroleum & Natural Gas Shri Dharmendra Pradhan informed the Rajya Sabha in a written reply today that 201 cases pertaining to litigation arising out of contractual/service/black listing of vendors/take or pay/ship or pay etc. are pending against GAIL(India) Ltd (GAIL).
 There are 16 cases relating to GAIL pending with Petroleum and Natural Gas Regulatory Board. 
 The amount spent by GAIL as legal expenses during the last three financial years are as under:

Sl No.
Financial Year
Total (in crores)
1.
2012-13
11.46
2.
2013-14
12.54
3.
2014-15
10.12

Total
34.12

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Withdrawal of Gas Subsidy from well off people 

            The Minister of State (I/C) for Petroleum & Natural Gas Shri Dharmendra Pradhan informed the Rajya Sabha in a written reply today that Public Sector Oil Marketing Companies(OMCs) have reported that as on 01.07.2015, total number of 14.2 Kg. cylinders  in circulation are  30.39 crore.
 As on 20.07.2015, total 12,14,297 consumers have voluntarily given up/surrendered subsidized LPG. This has resulted in saving of Rs. 5,65,37,66,832/-
 At present, there is no proposal under consideration of the Government to withdraw subsidy from the LPG consumers. However, Government has launched an initiative to encourage LPG consumers to voluntarily give up their LPG subsidy.
 Every LPG consumer, who surrenders LPG subsidy, is linked to a BPL household who gets LPG connection in turn.


Annexure in reply to part (a) of Unstarred Rajya Sabha Question No. 1082 asked by Shri  R.K. Sinha, answered on 29th  July 2015 in relation to “Withdrawal of gas subsidy from well off people”.
Statewise 14.2 Kg Cylinder in Circulation of OMCs as on 01.07.2015
STATE/UT
Total no. of 14.2 kg cylinders of OMCs in circulation (in Lakhs)
IOCL
BPCL
HPCL
TOTAL
CHANDIGARH
4.5
3.1
1.5
9.1
DELHI
68.1
22.3
14.9
105.3
HARYANA
41.4
32.5
20.4
94.3
HIMACHAL PRADESH
25.4
2.1
3.4
30.9
JAMMU & KASHMIR
11.8
3.7
23.6
39.1
PUNJAB
72.1
34.9
26.2
133.2
RAJASTHAN
71.3
43.3
44.4
159.1
UTTAR PRADESH
202.1
89.8
51.8
343.8
UTTRANCHAL
34.0
11.6
2.3
47.9
SUB TOTAL NORTH
530.8
243.4
188.4
962.6
ANDAMAN & NICOBAR
2.1

0.0
2.1
ARUNACHAL PRADESH
4.6
0.1
0.0
4.7
ASSAM
48.2
4.2
0.0
52.4
BIHAR
59.3
23.4
23.1
105.9
JHARKHAND
24.2
4.4
7.4
36.1
MANIPUR
6.8

0.0
6.8
MEGHALAYA
3.3
0.1
0.0
3.4
MIZORAM
5.6

0.0
5.6
NAGALAND
4.5
0.0
0.0
4.5
ODISHA
20.9
12.7
19.5
53.1
SIKKIM
2.7

0.0
2.7
TRIPURA
7.5

0.0
7.5
WEST BENGAL
103.7
36.6
34.1
174.4
SUB TOTAL EAST
293.3
81.5
84.2
459.0
CHATTISGARH
19.4
7.4
12.0
38.7
DADRA & NAGAR HAVELI
0.0

1.2
1.2
DAMAN & DIU
0.0
0.4
0.7
1.1
GOA
0.3
3.6
6.7
10.6
GUJARAT
82.0
37.0
31.6
150.6
MADHYA PRADESH
67.5
28.7
34.3
130.5
MAHARASHTRA
42.0
161.5
152.0
355.5
SUB TOTAL WEST
211.1
238.6
238.6
688.2
ANDHRA PRADESH
61.4
31.4
79.2
172.1
KARNATAKA
77.7
45.2
64.0
187.0
KERALA
80.0
44.0
26.6
150.6
LAKSHADWEEP
0.1

0.0
0.1
PONDICHERRY
2.3
2.3
2.3
6.9
TAMILNADU
163.3
71.9
42.8
277.9
TELANGANA
54.8
31.4
48.5
134.7
SUB TOTAL SOUTH
439.6
226.2
263.5
929.2
ALL INDIA
1474.8
789.6
774.7
3039.1

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Purchase of LNG Committed by PS Oil Companies 
            The Minister of State (I/C) for Petroleum & Natural Gas Shri Dharmendra Pradhan informed the Rajya Sabha in a written reply today that GAIL has executed three long-term LNG contracts for 8.3 Million Tonnes per Annum (MMTPA) over a period of 20 years (5.8 MMTPA from US and 2.5 MMTPA from Russia). Indian Oil Corporation Ltd. (IOCL) has executed two long-term LNG contracts for 1.9 MMTPA over a period of 20 years (0.7 MMTPA from US and 1.2 MMTPA from Canada). Petronet LNG Limited (PLL) is importing 7.5 MMTPA LNG from RasGas, Qatar on long-term basis and has also entered into long term supply agreement for 1.44 MMTPA of LNG with Mobil Australia Resources Company Pty Ltd.

LNG is imported by different entities under Open General License and the prices of LNG are contractually decided between the buyer and the seller. Contracts are signed on different parameters agreed between the buyer and seller like moving average of Japanese Custom-cleared Crude (JCC) price for 12 months, Brent crude prices, Henry Hub etc.

LNG is imported by different entities to meet the demand between the actual requirement and supply from various domestic sources. The Working Group on Petroleum & Natural Gas sector for 12th Five Year Plan has projected the demand of natural gas by various sectors during the period 2015-16 to 2018-19 as under: 

Year
Demand of natural gas by various sectors
 (in MMSCMD)
2015-16
446
2016-17
473
2017-18
494
2018-19
523

However, the actual demand is price sensitive and total utilization during 2014-15 was 116.78 out of which 73.93 MMSCMD was domestic supply and 42.85 MMSCMD was imported LNG.
Due to less demand of imported LNG, out of 62.10 MMSCMD of total regasification capacity, 19.25 MMSCMD remained unutilized.



In power and fertilizer sector the installed capacity is much less than the demand projected by Working Group.

Government has taken several steps to improve the availability of gas in order to meet the country’s natural gas requirements. These include revision in the price of domestic natural gas, intensification of domestic exploration and production activities through New Exploration Licensing Policy (NELP) rounds, development of shale gas policy framework, research and development of gas hydrate resources in the country, exploring possibility of transnational gas pipelines, clearance for exploration and development of some NELP blocks, exploration in the Mining Lease Area with certain conditions and acquisition of overseas oil and gas assets.

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Criteria for Providing LPG Connections to BPL Category 
            The Minister of State (I/C) for Petroleum & Natural Gas Shri Dharmendra Pradhan informed the Rajya Sabha in a written reply today that to facilitate LPG coverage for  BPL families in the country , a scheme for providing one time grant to BPL families for release of new LPG connection through Regular LPG distributors and Rajiv Gandhi Gramin LPG Vitaraks is in operation in the country. As per the scheme, the security deposit (upto Rs. 1600/-) for one cylinder and Pressure Regulator is paid from the fund created for this purpose.
            Under this scheme, the BPL card holder can register his request with the distributor for release of new LPG connection. The distributor prepares a list of BPL card holders who have registered for the release of Security Deposit free connections under the CSR scheme and sends it to the local administration for authentication. Connections are released to beneficiaries by the distributor after receipt of authenticated list of beneficiaries from local administration and on completion of requisite formalities for release of new LPG connection.
            As on 01.07.2015, the number of  LPG connections  released by OMCs to BPL families under the above scheme in Puri, Bhubaneshwar and Cuttack in the state of Odisha are as under :-

IOC
HPCL
BPCL
Puri
02
428
0
Bhubaneshwar
573
327
251
Cuttack
17
74
131

 A Direct Benefit Transfer for LPG consumer (DBTL) scheme namely, ‘PAHAL is in operation in the country.  Under the scheme, LPG is sold to consumers including BPL consumers, at the market rate while the subsidy is directly credited to their bank account as per entitlement.

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Complaints Against LPG Dealers 


            The Minister of State (I/C) for Petroleum & Natural Gas Shri Dharmendra Pradhan informed the Rajya Sabha in a written reply today that State/Union Territory and OMC-wise details of established cases of irregularities including black marketing, underweight/short supply cylinders etc. for the last two years and the period from April-June, 2015 in the country including the states of Jharkhand and Bihar are at Annexure.
             In all established cases of irregularities, action is taken against the erring distributors as per provisions of prevailing Marketing Discipline Guidelines(MDG) and distributorship agreement.
 Public Sector Oil Marketing Companies (OMCs) have reported that inspections are carried out by their Field Officers, Anti Adulteration Cell and Vigilance Department at LPG godowns and showrooms of LPG distributorships. If an LPG distributor is found guilty of any malpractice, punitive action is taken in accordance with the provisions of the Marketing Discipline Guidelines (MDG) and distributorship agreements.
            Further, Various initiatives have been taken by the Government viz. introduction of Direct Benefit Transfer of LPG (DBTL), capping on supply of subsidized cylinders, de-duplication,  a      24 x 7 LPG service portal www.MyLPG.in, introduction of Transparency Portal, KYC exercise etc. which have reduced the misuse and diversion of subsidized LPG cylinders.

Annexure in reply to part (a) &(b) of Unstarred Rajya Sabha Question  No. 1077 asked by Shri Dhiraj Prasad Sahu, answered on 29th July 2015 in relation to " complaints against LPG Dealers


STATE/UT
Total for OMCs for the period of current year & last two years
APR- JUN '15
2014-15
2013-14


IOC
BPC
HPC
OMC
IOC
BPC
HPC
OMC
IOC
BPC
CHANDIGARH
73
11
3
2
16
44
1
1
46
10
1
DELHI
152
8
4
2
14
61
10
7
78
38
11
HARYANA
155
1
5
18
24
21
5
67
93
22
1
HIMACHAL PRADESH
14
5
0
5
10
2
0
0
2
2
0
JAMMU & KASHMIR
63
13
1
9
23
10
0
5
15
1
0
PUNJAB
172
9
3
43
55
12
4
66
82
3
3
RAJASTHAN
237
32
3
30
65
84
6
31
121
13
2
UTTAR PRADESH
829
96
14
26
136
235
39
131
405
134
42
UTTRANCHAL
35
1
1
1
3
1
5
20
26
0
1
SUB TOTAL NORTH
1730
176
34
136
346
470
70
328
868
223
61
ANDAMAN & NICOBAR
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
ARUNACHAL PRADESH
2
0
0
0
0
2
0
0
2
0
0
ASSAM
77
4
0
0
4
70
2
0
72
1
0
BIHAR
249
13
0
0
13
154
17
2
173
16
10
JHARKHAND
64
4
0
0
4
16
6
1
23
26
4
MANIPUR
3
1
0
0
1
1
0
0
1
1
0
MEGHALAYA
10
0
0
0
0
10
0
0
10
0
0
MIZORAM
4
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
4
0
NAGALAND
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
ORISSA
240
0
89
2
91
17
7
14
38
1
66
SIKKIM
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
TRIPURA
4
1
0
0
1
1
0
0
1
2
0
WEST BENGAL
58
0
0
1
1
24
3
5
32
19
2
SUB TOTAL EAST
711
23
89
3
115
295
35
22
352
70
82
CHATTISGARH
69
1
1
18
20
10
0
22
32
11
1
DADRA & NAGAR HAVELI
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
DAMAN & DIU
3
0
0
0
0
0
0
1
1
0
0
GOA
10
0
0
0
0
0
0
1
1
1
0
GUJARAT
157
8
1
0
9
28
0
38
66
30
0
MADHYA PRADESH
353
12
1
9
22
152
5
26
183
96
2
MAHARASHTRA
370
2
2
10
14
124
17
77
218
21
16
SUB TOTAL WEST
962
23
5
37
65
314
22
165
501
159
19
ANDHRA PRADESH
251
0
0
6
6
98
2
50
150
33
4
KARNATAKA
173
9
0
2
11
11
2
84
97
8
0
KERALA
178
14
0
3
17
96
0
18
114
10
0
LAKSHADWEEP
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
PONDICHERRY
3
1
0
1
2
1
0
0
1
0
0
TAMILNADU
139
13
0
9
22
68
1
16
85
23
0
TELANGANA
66
0
0
2
2
14
0
41
55
0
0
SUB TOTAL SOUTH
810
37
0
23
60
288
5
209
502
74
4
ALL INDIA
4213
259
128
199
586
1367
132
724
2223
526
166


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