India’s petroleum and natural gas sector has seen huge changes over the past 11 years, Minister Hardeep Singh Puri shared on Tuesday. LPG connections jumped from 14 crore before 2014 to more than 33 crore today. The natural gas pipeline network grew from 14,000 km to over 22,500 km. Plus, India has become one of the world’s fastest-growing refining hubs.
Puri made these points while opening Indraprastha Gas Limited’s (IGL) new office at the World Trade Centre in Delhi’s Nauroji Nagar. He also launched a smart gas meter manufacturing plant that IGL set up with Genesis Gas Solutions. This facility will produce about one million gas meters each year, including smart and prepaid ones. Production kicks off in October, helping India become self-reliant in gas meter production and letting IGL offer better, more efficient services to customers at lower costs.
Puri praised IGL for bringing piped natural gas (PNG) connections to 250 villages in Delhi. That means clean cooking fuel now reaches over one lakh rural households, bringing city-like perks to the countryside. “This isn’t just about building infrastructure,” he said. “It’s about changing lives, cleaning up the air, cutting emissions, and closing the gap between rural and urban areas.”
Looking back at India’s energy story, Puri recalled how tough it was for many families to get LPG cylinders before 2014. Now, LPG reaches every corner of the country. On the first day of Navratri, the government announced 25 lakh new connections under the Pradhan Mantri Ujjwala Yojana (PMUY), which gives affordable clean cooking fuel to low-income families. That pushes the scheme’s total to around 10.60 crore connections.
IGL, started in 1998, has turned into a major force in city gas distribution. It supplies compressed natural gas (CNG) for vehicles and PNG for homes, factories, and businesses. Today, IGL runs 956 CNG stations—that’s nearly 12 percent of all stations in India. It connects over 30.7 lakh households to PNG, powers 5,300 industries and 7,100 commercial spots, sells 9.3 million standard cubic meters per day (MMSCMD) of natural gas, and fuels 22 lakh CNG vehicles every day.
Puri pointed out how India’s natural gas pipeline network has expanded big time. He’s excited about exploration and production, especially recent promising discoveries in the Andaman region.
On refining, India ranks as the world’s fourth-largest hub and is ramping up capacity fast. Soon, it could hit third place and become a global leader, as smaller refineries abroad face tough times.
For the future, Puri sees India’s green energy shift including a mix of biogas, liquefied natural gas (LNG), hydrogen-blended CNG, electric vehicle (EV) charging, and battery swapping. IGL already has EV chargers at 40 stations and plans to add more on a tight schedule. While CNG and EVs gain speed, traditional fuels like petrol will stick around, especially in booming areas like the National Capital Region.
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