The Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Gas of India has announced that the country is investing US$60bn to develop gas supply and distribution infrastructures, including pipelines and LNG import terminals, to link up all the regions by 2024. The objective is to expand the share of natural gas in its energy mix to 15% by 2030 (from the current 6%), which will help the government to reach its goal to double the size of Indian GDP to US$5,000bn by 2024. As part of this 15% target, India is developing city gas distribution networks to supply 70% of the population.
GAIL, the largest gas utility in India, is currently building a 2,660 km long gas pipeline project, the Urja Ganga pipeline project, which will connecting the eastern states of Bihar, West Bengal, Jharkhand and Odisha. The construction of the 16 mcm/d (5.8 bcm/year) gas pipeline is nearing completion and the project should be commissioned by the end of 2020. In northern India, the northeast gas grid has entered into construction and is expected to connect 8 states in northeastern India by 2023.