India’s major fuel players make huge bet on Bio-CNG

India’s state-run fuel retailing companies will set up Bio-CNG plants across India to promote clean fuel and reduce imports.

Indian Oil Corporation (IOC), Bharat Petroleum Corporation (BPCL) and Hindustan Petroleum Corporation (HPCL) plan to spend around $1.5 billion to build Bio-CNG plants around the country. The fuel would then be sold through gas stations of the participating retailers.

In 2018, 42 plants will become operational which will be scaled up to 400 over the next three to four years, according to a source cited by Live Mint.

The cost of producing Bio-CNG for the Indian retailers will be around Rs23 ($0.35) a litre, according to the publication, which would be cheaper than regular CNG, petrol and diesel.

IOC, BPCL and HPCL believe India has a large amount of renewable biomass available, especially from the farming industry, to produce large quantities and reduce fuel imports by 20% in 2022.