Deora to hold meeting on Gas Pipeline at Mumbai on Monday

New Delhi, Oct 13 (UNI) Petroleum and Natural Gas Minister Murli Deora has convened a meeting on October 16 in Mumbai to discuss the Draft Policy for Development of Natural Gas Pipelines and city or local natural gas distribution networks to elicit the views from various stakeholders.

Chief Executive Officers (CEOs) of various companies including, Exxon Mobil, BG, Shell, Reliance Industries Ltd, Anil Dhirubhai Ambani Group, BP (India), oil PSUs and Planning Commission, have been invited to attend the meet.

The issues likely to be discussed in the meeting include -- applicability, grant of authorisation, exclusivity, bid bond and performance bond, conditions under ROU acquisition, unbundling of operation, gas grid connectivity, technical and Health Safety and Environment (HSE) standards and role of state governments.

The policy will be finalised after ascertaining the views of the participants, an official statement said .

The draft policy was earlier discussed with various stakeholders, including Gas Industry Group, in the meetings held earlier in June and July this year at the Ministry.

The objective of the draft policy is to promote investment from public as well as private sector in natural gas pipeline and city and local natural gas distribution networks.

The main thrust of the policy is to secure consumer interest in terms of gas availability and reasonable tariff. It is envisaged that the policy would facilitate the laying of gas pipelines and city gas distribution networks, which would help in making available natural gas, an environment friendly fuel, to different parts of the country and in making this fuel available to households across the country.

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