India to scale up compressed biogas production programme amid LNG supply woes

The Centre is looking to boost the production and adoption of compressed biogas amid a global liquefied natural gas (LNG) supply squeeze.

The government will scale up the ongoing biogas programme and streamline all initiatives aimed at promoting biogas, which is a sustainable alternative to natural gas, and if scaled up, can help reduce import dependence for LNG, said Neeraj Mittal, secretary at the ministry of petroleum and natural gas, at a conference titled Energy Security: Driving India's Next Wave of Gas Demand organized by the Petroleum and Natural Gas Regulatory Board (PNGRB) and Indraprastha Gas Ltd (IGL) in New Delhi.

“The prime minister has directed us to really upscale the compressed biogas programme. It is a programme that has been parented by five departments so far for various subsidies, various parts of their supply chain. So, we are working very fervently to come up with a single programme.”

Noting that ethanol procurement, production, and blending in the country have been streamlined, the secretary said the government will develop a similar road map for compressed biogas, which can then be blended with natural gas in the city gas distribution network.

Biogas programmes

The petroleum ministry launched the SATAT (Sustainable Alternative Towards Affordable Transportation) scheme in 2018, with the aim of establishing an ecosystem for the production of compressed biogas from various waste and biomass sources and promoting its use alongside natural gas.

Another programme, the National Biogas Programme, was rolled out in 2021 by the renewable energy ministry with a plan to set up biogas plants for clean cooking fuel, lighting, meeting thermal and small power needs.

The focus on compressed biogas comes in the backdrop of nearly 45% of its LNG imports from Qatar being cut off due to the attacks on Ras Laffan Industrial City during the war between the US, Israel and Iran.

India imported about 27 million tonnes of LNG in the last fiscal year (2024-25), valued at $14.9 billion. Out of India's total LNG imports, about 40-45% comes from Qatar and other key suppliers in West Asia, including the United Arab Emirates and Oman. The US and Australia are the other sources of LNG.

Although India produces about 55% of its natural gas requirement, the majority of its domestic production is used for city gas distribution (CGD)—piped natural gas (PNG) for cooking and compressed natural gas (CNG) for transport. So, other downstream consuming sectors such as fertilizers, steel and power are mostly dependent on imported natural gas.

Meanwhile, Union petroleum and natural gas minister Hardeep Singh Puri is on a two-day visit to Qatar. “Hon’ble Minister of Petroleum & Natural Gas Shri Hardeep Singh Puri arrived in Doha for a two-day visit. He was welcomed at the airport by Ambassador of India to Qatar Mr. Vipul and officials of QatarEnergy,” the Indian embassy in Qatar said in a tweet on Thursday evening.