Date for gas distribution bids extended

Oil regulator PNGRB has once again extended the bid deadline for licences to retail CNG and piped cooking gas in 14 cities, including Bangalore and Pune, by one month to August 11.

Bids for the latest round of city gas distribution (CGD) licences were originally due on February 11, but the regulator in January extended the deadline to May 12. On April 23, it extended bid deadline to July 10 and now it has further pushed it back to August 11.

"PNGRB has again received requests from various prospective bidders/entities such as HPCL, BPCL, ONGC, OIL, Indian Oil-Adani Gas combine, GAIL Gas and Kerala Gail Gas Ltd for further extension of bid closing date ranging from one month to three months. "Considering such requests received from a number of stakeholders/prospective bidders, in the interest of enhancing competition, it has been decided to further revise the time schedule of bid," the Petroleum and Natural Gas Regulatory Board (PNGRB) said in a notice.

Accordingly, the last date for sale of bid document will now be August 4 and bids will close on August 11. "It may please be noted no further request for time extension shall be entertained by the board," it said.

PNGRB had in September last year invited bids for development of CGD networks in Eranakulam in Kerala; Rangareddy / Medak, Nalgonda and Khammam in Andhra Pradesh; Bangalore rural and urban districts in Karnataka; Raigarh, Pune and Thane in Maharashtra; Daman; Dadar & Nagar Haveli; Shahjahanpur in UP; Guna in MP; Panipat in Haryana and Amritsar in Punjab.

Bidders have been asked to quote the tariff they will charge for the pipeline network to be laid in the city and the compression charge for dispensing CNG (compressed natural gas) over the 25 years. They have also been 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 piped natural gas, according to the regulator.

The cities offered for bidding include those that PNGRB had offered in the fourth CGD round in September 2010. The regulator had, however, cancelled the round in November 2011. In the fourth round, licences for Ernakulam in Kerala; Rangareddy/Medak, Nalgonda and Khammam in Andhra Pradesh; Alibag/Pen and Lonavala/Khapoli in Maharashtra; Guna in MP and Shahjahanpur in UP were offered. The current round is being called 4th round of CGD bidding, PNGRB said in the notice inviting bids.