IOC-Adani steps on gas; bids for CNG licence in 5 cities

Indian Oil Corp-Adani Gas combine has bid for a licence to retail CNG in five cities, including Haridwar, in the fifth round of city gas bidding that saw no bids for as many as eight cities.

Besides Haridwar, Indian Oil Corp (IOC)-Adani combine bid for Tumkur, Belgaum and Dharwad districts in Karnataka and Udham Singh Nagar in Uttarakhand, according to information available from Petroleum and Natural Gas Regulatory Board (PNGRB).

State gas utility GAIL (India) Ltd through its subsidiary GAIL Gas bid for Tumkur and Dharwad and in consortia with Bharat Petroleum Corp Ltd (BPCL) for Haridwar, Udham Singh Nagar and Belgaum.

GSPC Gas bid for Banaskantha district in Gujarat, while Maharashtra Natural Gas Ltd bid for rights for Ahmednagar district in Maharashtra.

State-owned Hindustan Petroleum Corp Ltd (HPCL) in joint venture with Andhra Pradesh Gas Distribution Corp Ltd bid for licence to retail CNG and piped cooking gas in East Godavari, Krishna and West Godavari districts of Andhra Pradesh.

Lesser known firm Megha Engineering & Infrastructure Ltd (MEIL) put in bids for East Godavari, Belgaum, Krishna, West Godavari, Tumkur and Dharwad districts.

PNGRB said no bids were received from Badaun, Aligarh and Bulandshahr district in Uttar Pradesh, Latur and Osmanabad in Maharashtra, Shivpuri in Madhya Pradesh and Bidar in Karnataka.

"In addition, GAIL Gas Ltd has also withdrawn its bid for Muzaffarnagar district (in Uttar Pradesh). Accordingly, there is no bid received for Muzaffarnagar district," PNGRB said.

Besides there were single bids for Dhar district in Madhya Pradesh and Dahod in Maharashtra and PNGRB has decided to re-tender them.

PNGRB had in February offered 20 cities in the fifth round of bidding for city gas licences. Bidding was to close in May, but was extended by a month to June 22 after poor initial response.

Bidding was extended as PNGRB did not receive any bids for Badaun, Aligarh and Bulandshahr in Uttar Pradesh, Latur in Maharashtra, Dhar and Shivpuri in Madhya Pradesh, Bidar in Karnataka and Osmanabad in Maharashtra. The same status continued when the bids finally closed on June 22.

Bidders were asked to quote the tariff they will charge for the pipeline network to be laid and the compression charge for dispensing CNG over 25 years.

They were also asked to quote the inch-kilometre of steel pipelines they will lay during first five years and the number of domestic consumers proposed to be connected by PNG.

PIPE DREAM TO PIPED GAS

• Bidders asked to quote rate they will charge for the pipeline network to be laid and the compression charge for dispensing CNG over 25 years
   
• Also asked to quote the inch-kilometre of steel pipelines they will lay in first 5 years