With the aim to reduce reliance on liquefied natural gas (LNG) imports, Government of India has announced mandatory blending of compressed biogas (CBG) in natural gas. The CBG blending obligation (CBO) would be voluntary till March 2025 and then it would become mandatory from April 2025.
The CBO would be one per cent, three percent and four per cent of the total compressed natural gas (CNG)/ piped natural gas (PNG) consumption for 2025-26, 2026-27 and 2027-28, respectively. However, it will increase to five percent from 2028-29.
The CBO is likely to infuse investment worth Rs 375 billion by establishment of around 750 CBG projects by 2028-29 by promoting the production and consumption of CBG in the country. Moreover, a central repository body (CRB) will be set up to monitor the implementation of blending mandate based on the operational guidelines by the Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Gas (MoPNG).
Besides, initial indicative blending percentage targets have been set for the sustainable aviation fuel (SAF) with one per cent SAF indicative blending target in 2027 (initially for international flights) and two per cent SAF indicative blending target in 2028 (initially for international flights).