IOC-Adani combine bids for CNG retail licence in 5 cities

State-run Indian Oil Corporation has teamed up with private sector Adani Gas to bid for licence to retail compressed natural gas (CNG) in five cities, including Haridwar in UP, Udham Singh Nagar in Uttarakhand as also Tumkur, Belgaum and Dharward districts in Karnataka in the 5th round of city gas bidding.

Despite an extension of dates for submission of bids for the 20 geographical areas till 22 June 2015, the latest round of bidding saw no bids for as many as eight cities, according to information available from Petroleum and Natural Gas Regulatory Board (PNGRB).

State gas utility GAIL India Ltd through its subsidiary GAIL Gas bid for Tumkur and Dharward and in consortia with Bharat Petroleum Corp Ltd (BPCL) for Haridwar, Udham Singh Nagar and Belgaum.

GSPC Gas bid for Banaskantha district in Gujarat while Maharashtra Natural Gas Ltd bid for rights for Ahmadnagar district in Maharashtra.

State-owned Hindustan Petroleum Corp Ltd (HPCL) in joint venture with Andhra Pradesh Gas Distribution Corp Ltd bid for licence to retail CNG and piped cooking gas in East Godavari, Krishna and West Godavari districts of Andhra Pradesh.

Lesser known firm, Megha Engineering & Infrastructure Ltd put in bids for East Godavari, Belgaum, Krishna, West Godavari, Tumkur and Dharward districts.

No bids were received for the areas such as Baduan, Aligarh and Bulandshahr districts in Uttar Pradesh, Shivpuri district in Madhya Pradesh and Latur, Bidar and Osmanabad districts in Karnataka.

Also, GAIL Gas has withdrawn its bid for Muzzaffarnagar district, PNGRB said.

PNGRB has decided to retender gas distribution rights for the areas like Dhar district in Madhya Pradesh and Dahod in Maharashtra as only single bids were received for these areas.

PNGRB had, in February, offered 20 cities in the fifth round of bidding for city gas licences. Bidding was to close in May but was extended by one month to 22 June after poor initial response.

Bidding was extended as PNGRB did not receive any bids for Badaun, Aligarh and Bulandshahr in Uttar Pradesh, Latur in Maharashtra, Dhar and Shivpuri in Madhya Pradesh, Bidar in Karnataka and Osmanabad in Maharashtra. The same status continued when the bids finally closed on June 22.

Bidders were asked to quote the tariff they will charge for the pipeline network to be laid in the city and the compression charge for dispensing CNG over the 25 years.

They were also asked to quote the inch-km of steel pipelines they will lay during first five years and the number of domestic consumers proposed to be connected by piped natural gas.