Mumbai, Nov 15 : Terming Natural Gas as a fuel of the 21st century, Union Petroleum and Natural Gas Minister Murli Deora has said that the piped natural gas would reach more than 200 cities by 2015.
Delivering the inaugural speech at the All India LPG Distributors Federation Silver Jubilee conference and exhibition here today, Mr Deora said expansion of natural gas distribution network in cities would make possible to give more LPG to rural areas.
''Both public and private sector companies are expanding its existing infrastructure. GAIL alone is expanding its existing pipeline of 7,000 km to 12,000 km in next 5 years. With expansion of natural gas distribution in urban and semi-urban areas, more LPG will be available for distribution in rural areas so as to achieve the target under Rajiv Gandhi Gramin LPG Vitran Yojana,''the minister said.
Mr Deora said that the Oil Marketing Companies (OMCs) had introduced a number of measures to improve customer services.
He, however, asked the LPG distributors to take necessary steps to control the menace of diversion and black marketing of LPG across the country.
''It is a matter of pride for our Oil Industry that India exported 51 million tones of refined petroleum products during 2009-10 valued at USD 30 billion, making petroleum products the largest foreign exchange earner in the merchandized category,'' he said.
''The supply of petroleum products would further get a boost with commissioning of three grass root refineries coming up at Bina, Bhatinda and Paradip in the next two years, increasing the refining capacity from 185 million tones today to around 240 million tones by 2012,'' Mr Deora said.
Earlier, in his speech, the Petroleum and Natural Gas Secretary, S. Sunderashan said that the government was hoping for a rationalization of LPG prices in the future so that there could be a reasonable profit for OMCs.
''Both public and private sector companies are expanding its existing infrastructure. GAIL alone is expanding its existing pipeline of 7,000 km to 12,000 km in next 5 years. With expansion of natural gas distribution in urban and semi-urban areas, more LPG will be available for distribution in rural areas so as to achieve the target under Rajiv Gandhi Gramin LPG Vitran Yojana,''the minister said.
Mr Deora said that the Oil Marketing Companies (OMCs) had introduced a number of measures to improve customer services.
He, however, asked the LPG distributors to take necessary steps to control the menace of diversion and black marketing of LPG across the country.
''It is a matter of pride for our Oil Industry that India exported 51 million tones of refined petroleum products during 2009-10 valued at USD 30 billion, making petroleum products the largest foreign exchange earner in the merchandized category,'' he said.
''The supply of petroleum products would further get a boost with commissioning of three grass root refineries coming up at Bina, Bhatinda and Paradip in the next two years, increasing the refining capacity from 185 million tones today to around 240 million tones by 2012,'' Mr Deora said.
Earlier, in his speech, the Petroleum and Natural Gas Secretary, S. Sunderashan said that the government was hoping for a rationalization of LPG prices in the future so that there could be a reasonable profit for OMCs.
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