Press Trust of India | AG&P Pratham Launches Its 201st CNG and 4th LCNG Station at Hebbal, Mysuru

Aug 27,2022

Significant milestone for AG&P Pratham towards its commitment of Rs. 15,000 crores investment in 5 years to lay a world-class City Gas Distribution (CGD) network

•  AG&P Pratham within the year:  

         •  Built 150 CNG Stations

         •  Accomplished a total of 1,85,000 domestic registrations

         •  Plans to execute 720 kms of steel pipeline, 3500 kms of MDPE pipelines and DPNG infrastructure for 3.36 lakh households

AG&P City Gas, one of the largest private energy players in India, operating under the brand name AG&P Pratham launched its 201st Compressed Natural Gas (CNG) station and 4th LCNG station in Hebbal, Mysuru. AG&P Pratham has developed about 150 CNG stations in the last 7 months, at a pace of almost five CNG stations every week.

Shri Hardeep Singh Puri, Minister of Petroleum & Natural Gas and Housing & Urban Affairs inaugurated the CNG and LCNG stations in an online ceremony. The occasion was also graced by Shir Pankaj Jain, Secretary, Ministry of Petroleum & Natural Gas and other officials at the Ministry.

AG&P Pratham has authorizations to develop CGD networks across 12 Geographical Areas covering 34 districts across 8% of India and 64 million people in the states of Rajasthan, Andhra Pradesh, Tamil Nadu, Karnataka and Kerala. In its twelve Geographical Areas, AG&P Pratham is developing and operating CNG stations for vehicles, piped natural gas to homes, industries and commercial establishments. AG&P Pratham has recently won the India 2022 ‘Energy Company of the Year’ at ‘The Economic Times Energy Leadership Awards’.

Speaking after virtually inaugurating AG&P Pratham’s 201st CNG Station, Shri Hardeep Singh Puri, Minister of Petroleum & Natural Gas and Housing & Urban Affairs congratulated AG&P Pratham for the expansion of CNG stations and LCNG stations in the Country. He stated that India is committed to continuously improve the policy and regulatory environment to support the development and make cleaner and sustainable fuel accessible and available to public at large. He said that in last 8 years, CNG stations in the country have gone up from 938 in 2014 to 4629, and number is likely to go up to 8000. The PNG connections have increased by 4 times to almost 1 crore while CGD network has increased 9 times to cover 630 districts.

The Minister stated that the Modi Government has shown political resolve, clarity on policy issues, and ability to implement the decisions which have helped in achieving these targets. He said that the government means business, and the use of gas in the energy basket of the country will go upto 15%, and CGD network will cater to almost 90% of the consumers.

Shri Puri said that under the current global situation, production and availability of Gas and Crude is a challenge but India has been ensuring the energy security, along with energy affordability and availability. The increase in domestic gas prices is fraction of the price rise at Henry Hub, and other places, he added. This has been possible due to Government taking variety of measures to cushion the impact on domestic consumers.

Today’s inauguration ceremony is an important step in expanding availability of Natural Gas as environment friendly and convenient fuel to the transport sector in the Country. Natural Gas is also safer and economical as compared to most conventional fuels.

Hon’ble Prime Minister has set an ambitious target of expanding the share of Natural Gas in the primary energy mix to 15% to usher in a gas-based economy. The development of a gas-based economy is expected to play a key role in achieving India’s target of net zero by 2070.

Shri Abhilesh Gupta, Managing Director and CEO, AG&P Pratham said, “The launch of our 201st CNG station is a significant milestone for us. We have commissioned 150 CNG stations in the last 7 months. We are equally focused on providing domestic connections and have already built Domestic Piped Natural Gas (DPNG) infrastructure for 62,000 households. Within FY23, we will create the DPNG infrastructure for 3.36 lakh households. Our target is to setup 1500 CNG stations, lay 17,000 inch-kms of steel pipeline and connect 2.5 million households in the coming years. We are all working very hard to provide access to natural gas as a principal fuel source and usher in a natural gas-based economy.”

Mr. Hiroshi Suenaga, Managing Director, Japanese Overseas Infrastructure Investment Corporation (JOIN) said, “As an investment arm of the Japanese government, JOIN is delighted to see AG&P Pratham as one of the important players in achieving India’s vision on gas-based economy in the medium term and net carbon zero vision in the long term.”

Mr. Takeshi Shinohara, Director, OSAKA GAS said, “Osaka gas is excited to be a part of the city gas distribution story in India through our tremendous partnership with AG&P and are pleased to contribute to the Indian society. AG&P Pratham has grown at a rapid pace while being equally mindful of health, safety and environment.”
 
Mr. Joseph Sigelman, Chairman and CEO, AG&P Group said, “I must take this opportunity to express my admiration for the Government of India’s own outstanding performance to promote gas from a small percentage of India’s energy basket with a choreographed balance of unprecedented speed, safety, investment and reach. In such a short time, you are succeeding in creating a gas-based economy. In addition, our regulator, the PNGRB, has maintained consistency and transparency in its application of rules. I cannot overemphasize how predictability is important to foreign and domestic investors and entrepreneurs. Thus, the governance regime applied to the clean natural gas industry is, with careful consideration, not only world-class, but world-leading.”

Mr George Currie, Managing Director, Isquared Capital said, ”AG&P Pratham has delivered 201 CNG stations and 4 LCNG stations at an unprecedented pace and more importantly, the team has created quality infrastructure without compromising on health and safety standards. Natural gas will play an indispensable role in India’s decarbonization journey and I Squared Capital is committed to partnering India in this journey by continuing to invest in building quality enabling infrastructure.”

AG&P Pratham is presently operating CNG Stations in the districts of Andhra Pradesh: Anantapur, Kadapa, Chittoor, Sri Sathya Sai, Sri Balaji, Annamayya and Nellore Districts; Karnataka: Kolar, Mysuru, Mandya, Chamrajnagar, Hassan, Chikkamagaluru, Kodagu, Bagalkot, Koppal, Raichur, Kalaburagi, Vijayapura, Shivamogga, Uttara Kannada and Haveri; Tamilnadu: Kanchipuram, Chengalpet, Vellore, Ranipet, Tirupattur and Ramanathapuram; Kerala: Alappuzha, Kollam, and Thiruvananthapuram; Rajasthan: Jodhpur, Jaisalmer and Barmer. 

About AG&P City Gas
 
Operating under the brand of AG&P Pratham, AG&P City Gas is one of the largest private City Gas Distribution (CGD) companies in India. The company is developing CGD networks across 12 Geographical Areas in the Indian states of Rajasthan, Andhra Pradesh, Tamil Nadu, Karnataka and Kerala.