Odd-Even impact: CNG sales shoot up to 26.7 lakh kg a day

New Delhi: Indraprastha Gas Ltd recorded highest CNG sale of 26.7 lakh kg a day this week after more vehicles switched to the cleaner fuel with the start of second round of 'odd-even' rule for plying of private cars.

IGL is setting up one CNG dispensing station every two days, a world record, to meet the increased demand for gas. "We had an average compressed natural gas (CNG) sale of 23.5-24 lakh kg per day in 2015-16. On Monday, which was the first full working day of the odd-even restricted plying rule, we saw sale volumes jump to 26.7 lakh," IGL Managing Director Narendra Kumar said.

Previously peak sale volume was 26.4 lakh kg per day. "This is the highest ever sale we have ever achieved," he said. "In 2015-16 we had a growth of 3-4 per cent in CNG consumption. This year (April 2016 to March 2017), we expect a growth rate of 8-10 per cent."

With the Delhi government from April 15 starting the second phase of odd-even rule under which cars will only be allowed on the road on alternate days, going by whether their number plates are odd or even. Kumar said IGL is setting up CNG dispensing stations at a record pace. "Last year we had 324 CNG stations.

Beginning January, we have embarked up setting up 90 new stations and in about 100 days we have set up 55, which is one station every two days." The remaining CNG stations would be set up by May, he said. Delhi has the highest number of CNG stations in the world and no city has ever expanded its network by more than 30 stations in a year. He said the talk of making the 'odd-even' rule a permanent fixture has led to more number of cars converting to CNG.

"Earlier we had some 2,500 petrol or diesel run cars converting to CNG every month. But now we have about 5,000 additions every month." IGL, the sole supplier of CNG to automobiles and piped cooking gas to households in the national capital region, is the country's largest CNG retailer.

"What is working in favour of CNG is also price cuts following global slump in energy prices. Rates were last cut by Rs 0.60 per kg and to Rs 36.60 per kg in Delhi on April 1," he said. Also, the company offers a discount of Rs 1.5 per kg if refuling is done during odd-hours ? midnight to 5 am starting this January.

"While during winter months the odd-hour refueling was less, we expect this to pick up during summer," he said. Out of the 1026 CNG stations currently in operation in the country, about 34 per cent are located in Delhi and adjoining NCR towns. "We have increased installed capacity to dispense CNG from 69 lakh kg per day to 72 lakh kg per day," he added.