Nine oil companies to invest Rs30,350 cr in Rajasthan gas infrastructure

Nine petroleum companies, including Cairn India, and state-run Gas Authority of India Ltd (GAIL) and Indian Oil Corp (IOC) on Wednesday signed  memoranda of understanding (MoUs) with the Rajasthan government to invest a total of Rs30,350 crore for creation of gas distribution network in the state.

Cairn India is leading the investment drive with proposed investment of Rs12,500 crore, followed by GSPL Gasnet India (Rs5,000 crore), Focus Energy (Rs3,730 crore), GAIL (India) (Rs3,000 crore), Rajasthan State Gas Ltd (Rs2,700 crore) and IOCL (Rs2,300 crore) among others.

The signing of nine agreement covering existing and future activities for setting up pipeline network and terminals for exploration and production facilities was signed in the presence of minister of state for petroleum and natural gas, Dharmendra Pradhan.

Addressing the gathering at the MoU signing ceremony, Pradhan noted that Rajasthan now contributes 24 per cent of national oil production and 3 per cent the country's natural gas output.

The state, he said, has more potential and in coming years there will be enhanced oil and gas production activities. He assured the state government of full support from the centre and also assured that all long-pending issues regarding the proposed petroleum refinery in Barmer, Rajasthan will be resolved at an early date so that the refinery sees the light of the day.

Pradhan later co-chaired a meeting with chief minister Vasundhara Raje Scindhia where various oil and gas issues, including exploration and production, marketing, pipeline and refining were discussed. It was agreed to introduce various measures of ease of doing business to give a boost to this sector.