Compressed biogas expansion to help India meet its energy needs: Oil Minister Puri

The oil minister added that 46 CBG plants have already commissioned and sale of CBG has started at more than 100 retail outlets.

Union Minister of Petroleum and Natural Gas Hardeep Singh Puri said speedy expansion of compressed biogas (CBG) will help India in meeting its additional energy requirements from domestic sources.

India is dependent on imports for 85 percent of its crude oil needs and over 50 percent of its natural gas requirements.

Speaking at the Global Conference on Compressed Biogas (CBG), Puri said, “The government has an ambitious target to set up 5,000 commercial (CBG) plants by 2024-25 and produce 15 million metric tonnes of CBG, which will replace other gases which are being used in the country,”

The oil minister added that 46 CBG plants have already commissioned and sale of CBG has started at more than 100 retail outlets.

Compressed biogas or CBG—a biofuel—is similar to compressed natural gas (CNG) as both are compressed methane but CBG is produced from agriculture waste. Development of CBG plants in the country would reduce its dependence of imports of natural gas.

Puri emphasised that Budget 2023 gives a huge boost to India’s biogas and clean energy revolution with a special attention on setting up CBG projects under the umbrella of GOBARdhan (Galvanising Organic Bio-Agro Resources Dhan) scheme.

In this year’s budget, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman earmarked Rs 10,000 crore towards setting-up of 200 CBG plants and 300 community and cluster based biogas plants.

To avoid cascading of taxes on blended compressed natural gas, Puri said the government has exempted excise duty on GST-paid on compressed bio gas contained in blended compressed natural gas.