Addressing concerns about compressed biogas (CBG) becoming increasingly expensive with the revised offtake price, the Union Petroleum Ministry assured the pricing cushioned with government-funded support and stacking with a substantially wider gas pool would avert any material price impact.
The ministry clarified that full offtake price would not be recovered through gas consumers. The Union Cabinet August 6 approved the GOBARdhan scheme that introduced CBG offtake price of ₹2,110 per metric million British thermal unit (MMBTU).
The Petroleum Ministry also argued that CBG is not sold at the procurement price to city-gas distributors. It is pooled with other domestically produced natural gas, and the cost is spread based on the proportionality in the domestic gas pool. It explained that the government would provide an affordability cushion of ₹10 per kilogram of CBG – which equates to about ₹215 per MMBtu of CBG with 95% methane content.
