Petroleum Ministry Rejects Concerns Over Revised CBG Price

The Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Gas has rejected concerns that the revised price of Compressed Biogas (CBG) under the GOBARdhan Scheme would significantly burden CNG and household PNG consumers.

According to the ministry, the existing pricing mechanism links the CBG procurement price to 85% of the retail selling price of CNG. With the latest revision, this translates into a CBG procurement price of around Rs 1,478 per MMBtu.

The revised GOBARdhan framework fixes the CBG procurement price at Rs 2,110 per MMBtu, representing an increase of around 43% over the prevailing price. However, this is only the procurement price paid to CBG producers and not directly paid by CNG or household PNG consumers.

The government will provide affordability support of Rs 10 per kg of CBG, equivalent to approximately Rs 215 per MMBtu for CBG containing 95% methane. This support will reduce the amount that needs to be recovered through gas consumers.