AG&P Starts Its First CNG Station in India
Singapore’s AG&P opened its first compressed natural gas (CNG) station for vehicles in India late October and plans to add seven more stations before the end of the year, it told NGW on October 29. AG&P operates under the AG&P Pratham brand in India.
The Jodhpur CNG station in the state of Rajasthan is next to a petrol station owned by the state-owned Indian Oil Corporation (IOC) and is known as a daughter-booster station, where the gas is delivered to the station by CNG cascades mounted on light commercial vehicles.
The newly inaugurated station is the first of 1,500 CNG stations that AG&P plans to build and operate in India in districts and states where the company holds exclusive city gas distribution (CGD) licences. In 2018 and 2019, AG&P was awarded 12 CGD licences by India's Petroleum & Natural Gas Regulatory Board (PNGRB) to exclusively provide natural gas in 31 districts in the states of Rajasthan, Andhra Pradesh, Tamil Nadu, Karnataka and Kerala, including CNG for use in vehicles and piped natural gas (PNG) for domestic, industrial and commercial use.
AG&P said it plans to open seven more CNG stations in Jodhpur before the end of 2020. Of the seven, two will be at sites shared with state-owned Hindustan Petroleum Corporation at Lal Sagar Road and Main Pal Road; one will be at Salawas; one will be next to a petrol station owned by IOC at Mandore; and three will be at stations owned by state-owned Bharat Petroleum Corporation at Soor Sagar, Saraswati Nagar and Jaljog Circle.
The company will add nine more stations in 2021, of which two will be wholly-owned by AG&P Pratham.
“Jodhpur is a key growth area for CNG, with many vehicle owners expected to switch to CNG to fuel their vehicles. Demand surged to 200 kg within two days of the first AG&P Pratham CNG station opening and is expected to more than double to 400-500 kg/day in the coming months,” the company said.
AG&P said that CNG-fuelled vehicles make economic sense as they travel further for the same amount of money than those running on liquid fuels. “Coupled with the savings on daily refuelling and lower maintenance costs, this results in weekly savings of approximately Indian rupees 2,000-3,000 for CNG-run vehicles,” AG&P said.