GAIL to venture into gas liquefaction retail sales

NEW DELHI: Indian gas firm GAIL (India) Ltd plans to liquefy natural gas for easy transportation and sale in areas that are not connected with the pipeline grid, helping the nation boost use of the cleaner fuel.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi wants to raise the share of cleaner fuel in the country's energy mix to 15% by 2030 from the current 6.2 per cent as India aims for net zero carbon by 2070.

To meet that objective companies are investing billions of dollars to build gas infrastructure including liquefied natural gas (LNG) import terminals, pipelines and setting up LNG fuelling stations.

GAIL will be setting up portable liquefaction units on a pilot basis at two sites for liquefaction of natural gas, the company said in a statement on Wednesday.

"It will be first of its kind in the country to introduce portable and scalable liquefaction units," it said.

It is easy to transport gas in a liquid form to areas where the pipeline network is not developed. Easy transportation of gas will also aid in setting up LNG fuelling stations and bunkering in the country.

Indian companies are setting up 50 LNG fuelling stations along a 6,000-km network of highways linking the four main metropolitan areas. The country plans to raise the number to 1,000 in the next few years.