50 Per Cent Of Mumbai's CNG Stations Are Heavily Under Utilized, Stresses Its MD

50 per cent of Mumbai's CNG stations are heavily underutilized and between 10 pm in the evening until 6 am in the morning, such stations hardly attract any CNG consumer to fill in gas in their vehicles which has emerged as a major concern for Mumbai Mahanagar Gas, according to its Managing Director, Mr. Rajeev Mathur.

Despite this, the Mahanagar Gas, Mumbai will continue to add on close to 15 CNG stations to existing CNG infrastructure in Mumbai every year to make sure that the CNG users do not starve shortages of CNG in Mumbai, he added.

Speaking at the Conference on Gas Market in India under aegis of PHD Chamber of Commerce and Industry here today, Mr. Mathur said, during peak hours in Mumbai, the CNG users have hardly 2 to 3 minutes waiting time on CNG stations but the perception has gone on that filling in takes longer and therefore, CNG stations attract lesser CNG users. This is, however, not correct.

The Mumbai Mahanagar Gas compresses huge amount of CNG for its 13 lakh customers that says no CNG shortages. However, between 10 pm every evening until 6 am in the morning, somehow CNG stations in Mumbai attract little customers and that is a worry, said Mr. Mathur.

He agreed to look at the suggestion that the prices of CNG should be readjusted for those customers that might visit CNG stations during such a period without giving any commitment.

Despite Mumbai being so land scarce, its Mahanagar Gas will continue to keep its commitment to adding on 15 gas filling stations in Mumbai every year as it is compressed and piped gas including natural gas which is the fuel for 21st century because it has no pollution elements in it, emphasised Mr. Mathur.

According to him, it is the natural gas that's present contribution to energy mix basket of India, which is around 7% now, will go up to 20% in next few years due to its increasing demand factor.

Later on speaking on the occasion Joint Secretary, Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Gas, Mr. Ashutosh Jindal also emphasised on increasing use of gas as a feed stock and appealed to the industry to come forward for its optimum utilisation as since 2011-12, the demand of natural gas for industrial applications has fallen significantly though domestic consumers all over India are consistently seeking PNG connections to their houses.

Senior Advisor, Oil & Gas, Ernst & Young, Mr. Rajeev Khanna pointed out that lack of availability of domestic gas and the inability to absorb expensive LNG imports in the power and fertilizer sector have been the recent evolving scenario in Indian hydrocarbon sector.

Secretary General, PHD Chamber Mr. Saurabh Sanyal said that the Indian upstream sector faced challenges including concerns on prospectivity, inadequate upstream data and changes in the fiscal regime and low domestic gas price.

Director, PHD Chamber Dr. Ranjeet Mehta said that the pricing issue of natural gas is complex one and the government should resolve it sooner than later.

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