New Delhi: India’s efforts to increase the use of compressed biogas (CBG) in city gas networks face a major infrastructure challenge, with 405 CBG plants having no pipeline connectivity planned, according to a report by the Petroleum and Natural Gas Regulatory Board (PNGRB), The Times of India reported.
The plants include 148 operational units and 257 under construction. The issue has gained importance as the government has sharply increased the CBG blending obligation for city gas companies from 1% in FY26 to 3% in FY27, 4% in FY28 and 5% in FY29.
The report comes shortly after the Union Cabinet approved the ₹23,731 crore GOBARdhan scheme to promote CBG production from agricultural residue, cattle dung, municipal organic waste and other biomass.
The higher blending requirements will raise the CBG requirement to 1.03 million standard cubic metres per day (MMSCMD) in FY27, 1.54 MMSCMD in FY28 and 2.07 MMSCMD in FY29.
According to PNGRB’s Connectivity and Performance Report of CBG for FY 2025-26, only 24 of the 207 functional plants were already connected to pipelines. Connectivity work was under way at 15 plants, while proposals had been initiated for another 20 plants. As many as 148 functional plants had no pipeline connectivity planned.
The gap is wider among plants under construction. Of the 328 plants in this category, only two were already connected to pipelines, while connectivity work was under way at 17 plants and proposals had been initiated for 52.
The remaining 257 plants had no pipeline connectivity planned.
Cascades remain the main supply route
CBG is currently supplied to consumers mainly through cascades rather than pipelines. Among 74 functional plants for which offtake data was available, 54 supplied CBG through cascades. This accounted for 65.7% of total offtake, while pipeline-based offtake accounted for only 8.9%.
CBG is expected to have an important role as India seeks to reduce its dependence on imported fuel. It is chemically equivalent to natural gas and can be integrated into the existing gas network, combining the benefits of a renewable fuel with the reach and use of India’s expanding gas infrastructure.
The infrastructure gap has emerged even as the existing blending target has not been fully achieved. CNG and domestic PNG sales stood at 12,033 million standard cubic metres (MMSCM) in FY26, while CBG sales were 111.48 MMSCM. This resulted in blending of 0.9%, against the mandated 1%.
The PNGRB report expects CNG and PNG demand to grow at a compound annual rate of 7.9% over the next three years.
With the CBG blending requirement increasing to 3% in FY27, 4% in FY28 and 5% in FY29, demand for CBG from the city gas distribution sector is also expected to rise.
