Russian gas company Gazprom’s suspension of natural gas supply to state-owned Gail has scuppered the government’s plan to set up 1,000 liquefied natural gas (LNG) fuelling stations nationwide, two industry officials aware of the development said, prompting domestic marketing companies to scramble for fresh supply of LNG.
The government had, in November 2020, announced plans to set up 50 LNG fuelling stations along the national highways, and the Golden Quadrilateral connecting Delhi, Mumbai, Chennai and Kolkata.
This was aimed at replacing diesel and petrol with cleaner fuel in long-haul vehicles and to achieve the target of a 15% share for natural gas in India’s total energy mix by 2030.
In the second phase of the expansion move, 1,000 LNG fuelling stations were to be set up at an investment of ₹100 billion over three years. However, the Russia-Ukraine conflict has sent LNG prices soaring and created a shortage of the fuel