The story so far: The Petroleum and Natural Gas Regulatory Board (PNGRB), along with city-gas distributors and oil-marketing companies, on Thursday (October 1, 2026) launched the National PNG Drive 3.0 with the target of enrolling 50 lakh domestic-piped natural gas (D-PNG) connections by the end of the fiscal year 2027. The broader objective is to accelerate the adoption of piped natural gas, facilitate transition from liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) to PNG and further ensure the existing infrastructure for PNG is effectively utilised to attain these objectives.

What is the push for piped natural gas all about?

The government’s objective for promoting piped natural gas across consumer segments primarily rested on spurring access to cleaner fuels and increasing the role of natural gas in the national energy basket.

This directly aligns with India’s broader net-zero commitments and sustainable development goals, as well as ensuring access to cleaner, reliable and sustainable energy, it had stated.

The PNG Drives therefore were conceived as a structured intervention that sought to bridge the gap between network creation and consumer adoption, two imperative pillars that were to expand the adoption of piped gas ecosystem.

Transitioning to piped natural gas received a further impetus during the West Asia crisis with varied government orders that sought to expedite potential transition.

This was primarily aimed at easing off pressure on LPG, supplies of which were bothered because of the conflict spanning across the energy route, Strait of Hormuz.

What is Drive 3.0 all about?

The National PNG Drive 3.0 is not only targeting to add 50 lakh new domestic-PNG connections but also to convert 40 lakh connections into active users and register another 50 lakh users.

As on June 30, India has 1.74 crore PNG consumers of which 1.15 crore are billed consumers.

Among other things, the 3.0 drive seeks to accelerate adoption in newly connected, semi-urban and rural areas.

It also rests focus on converting connected-but-unbilled consumers into active consumers.

Albeit in a broader context, the closure report for PNG Drive 2.0 (published July 7, 2026) had also apprehended about the time taken for converting consumer interest into active usage.

“The pre-campaign baseline itself indicated a significant gap between connected domestic PNG users and billed users,” it had observed.

Thus, the 3.0 drive underlines this among the imperatives.

Additionally, the drive would also endow focus on maximising utilisation and gasification of existing infrastructure of city-gas distributors.

According to the regulator’s estimates, the country at present has about 6.9 lakh inch-kms of laid pipeline (inclusive of approximately 2.5 lakh inch-kms of steel pipeline and more than 4.41 lakh inch-kms of MDPE pipeline), which can cater to an additional 1.3 crore connections.

Robust business planning and supply chain readiness were also underlined as an imperative to complement consumer awareness and the adoption momentum that these drives sought to acquire.

“Scaling PNG penetration will require collaborative material planning across CGD entities such as gas meters, regulators, appliance valves, isolation valves, GI pipes and MDPE pipes,” the report read.

It is essential to also note that, on August 18, 2026, to encourage city-gas distributors to spur the expansion of D-PNG, the Petroleum Ministry had announced they would be allocated an additional 200 standard cubic metres (SCM) of the lower-priced Administered Price Mechanism natural gas for every incremental billed domestic-PNG connection they scale beyond the threshold determined for their area of operation.

Finally, the drive would also look to expand infrastructure in residential complexes and government colonies on a priority basis.

What are the broad observations from Drive 2.0?

Other than the mentioned, the closure report highlighted addressing consumer awareness in emerging geographical areas (for operability of PNG), improved technology for installation and affordability-related notions as imperatives to spur uptake.

The closure report noted consumer awareness remained uneven across geographical areas (GAs).

That is, the populace in mature markets of city-gas distributors were more familiar with the benefits of piped natural gas than those in emerging GAs who often required greater clarity about the process of obtaining a connection, safety aspects, comparative advantages to LPG and billing mechanism, among other things.

A related concern was about affordability and addressing upfront costs, especially in the emerging GAs.

City-gas distributors introduced varied schemes such as security deposit waivers and conversion incentives, among other things.

This was especially at the peak of the West Asia crisis amid the government push for a transition to piped gas.

The report also called for a differentiated strategy for mature and emerging geographical areas of CGD operations.

“Mature CGD markets require deeper consumer activation, billing conversion and service-level engagement, while emerging GAs require stronger awareness, trust-building, affordability communication and local handholding,” it observed.

Finally, the report also observed that relying on “slower methods” for installations could limit the number of household connections that could be completed during a campaign period.

It called for “making faster and standardised installation technologies” as an imperative for accelerating adoption.

Published – October 02, 2026 03:34 pm IST

Piped Natural Gas (PNG) installed in a house
| Photo Credit: The Hindu

Piped Natural Gas (PNG) installed in a house
| Photo Credit: The Hindu

The Petroleum Ministry has asked States and Union Territories to provide district-level administrative support to accelerate the shift of households from LPG to piped natural gas (PNG), seeking the appointment of nodal officers to coordinate with gas distributors and oil marketing companies.

In an August 21 letter to State Chief Secretaries, Petroleum Secretary Neeraj Mittal said PNG, as a safer, cleaner and more efficient cooking fuel, has an important role in advancing India’s energy transition while reducing the logistics burden associated with LPG distribution and improving consumer convenience.

“PNG brings a safer, cleaner and more efficient cooking fuel, playing a critical role in advancing the country’s energy transition objectives. Its accelerated adoption contributes to reducing the logistics burden associated with LPG distribution, enhancing consumer convenience, and improving utilisation of CGD infrastructure created through substantial public and private investment,” Mr. Mittal said in the letter.

The Ministry is seeking district-level intervention as it moves to implement a regulatory framework aimed at preventing households from retaining both LPG and PNG connections in areas where piped gas is available.

The push for faster adoption of gas piped to households for cooking purposes, called PNG, follows the disruption to India’s LPG supply chains during the West Asia crisis earlier this year. LPG was among the fuels most exposed to the conflict because India imports a large share of its cooking-gas requirement, with much of those supplies coming from Qatar, Saudi Arabia, the UAE, and Kuwait and moving through the Strait of Hormuz.

The disruption forced the government to prioritise domestic LPG supplies, with commercial and industrial consumers facing restrictions before supplies were progressively restored. India has since moved to diversify its LPG sourcing, including higher purchases from the U.S. and Algeria, as it seeks to reduce its exposure to disruptions in Middle Eastern supplies.

Piped natural gas, by contrast, proved considerably more resilient during the crisis, particularly for domestic household consumers.

Domestic PNG supplies received priority allocation of domestically produced natural gas, insulating the segment from much of the disruption that affected imported LPG and LNG cargoes.

While industrial and commercial gas users with greater dependence on imported LNG faced some exposure, domestic PNG and CNG supplies were expected to remain largely unaffected.

The experience has strengthened the case for expanding city-gas infrastructure and shifting households towards piped cooking fuel as part of a broader strategy to reduce India’s dependence on imported LPG and make the country’s energy system more resilient to geopolitical and shipping disruptions.

To promote faster PNG adoption, the government has notified the Natural Gas and Petroleum Products Distribution (Through Laying, Building, Operation and Expansion of Pipelines and Other Facilities) Orders of 2026 and LPG Control Orders under Section 3 of the Essential Commodities Act, 1955.

The orders prohibit households from retaining simultaneous LPG and PNG connections and provide for discontinuation of LPG supply to households that fail to apply for a PNG connection despite due notice, wherever PNG supply is available, Mittal said in the letter.

The Ministry has directed authorised city gas distribution (CGD) entities and public-sector oil marketing companies (OMCs) to establish a PNG Coordination Committee (PCC) in every geographical area.

The committees will identify eligible housing societies and households, issue statutory notices to housing societies, resident welfare associations and individual consumers, and conduct outreach camps to accelerate PNG connections.

The ministry said the PCC mechanism is already operational but its experience so far shows that district-level administrative support is crucial for implementing the transition within prescribed timelines.

The district administration will be expected to help secure right of way or right of use from RWAs and housing societies, facilitate the transition between LPG distributors and CGD entities, support consumer outreach and verification, and resolve consumer grievances.

It will also monitor PNG adoption in notified areas and, where required, enable designated officers to exercise powers under the control orders when access to non-public areas is refused.

The Ministry said officials of the Department of Food and Civil Supplies are best placed to provide this support because of their existing regulatory interface with LPG distributors and their field-level administrative reach.

Mr. Mittal has, therefore, asked Chief Secretaries to direct their respective food and civil supplies departments to nominate one nodal officer at the district level, not below the rank of district supply officer, to be formally associated with the local PCC.

States and Union Territories have also been asked to provide the names, designations and contact details of the nominated officers at the earliest so that PCC members can coordinate with them and expedite PNG expansion.

The Ministry asked states to accord priority to the matter, citing the government’s commitment to expanding PNG adoption in a time-bound manner.

The push comes as India seeks to expand its city gas distribution network and shift more household cooking demand towards piped natural gas, potentially reducing the need to transport LPG cylinders over long distances and making greater use of infrastructure created through public and private investment.

Published – August 23, 2026 01:25 pm IST

A piped natural gas (PNG) regulator. File
| Photo Credit: Siddhant Thakur