India has struggled to boost its use of gas, which produces less greenhouse gas emissions than coal and oil, because many industries and towns are not linked to the gas pipeline network. Gas consumption growth was running at 11% in 2010 but growth slid to just 2.5% in the financial year 2018/19. Oil Minister Dharmendra Pradhan told reporters at India Energy Forum by Ceraweek that companies were investing $60 billion in the network and building new gas import facilities to link all states by mid-2024, when the government's term ends. The minister said the government had started building the northeast gas grid to connect eight states in northeastern India, a region bordering Bhutan, Myanmar, Bangladesh and China. He added that, before the end of government's current term, "India will be connected by a pipeline ring that will help transport gas from any corner of India to a demand centre."

Source: bd News24 October 13, 2019 16:41 UTC