The Union Minister of Petroleum and Natural Gas & Steel Dharmendra Pradhan launched multiple initiatives on Compressed BioGas (CBG) to provide major fillip to the SATAT (Sustainable Alternative Towards Affordable Transportation) Scheme. 

First, included signing of a cooperation agreement by oil & gas majors including IndianOil, HPCL, BPCL, GAIL and IGL, for the promotion and development of the SATAT scheme. The cooperation agreement establishes a strong network for marketing the entire produced quantity of CBG plants through various channels. 

As per the agreement, IndianOil will act as a coordinator under the SATAT scheme and liaison with the government and other agencies on behalf of industry members. GAIL will serve as the coordinator for the implementation of the CBG-CGD synchronization scheme. 

During the event, the Ministry of Petroleum & Natural Gas also signed MoUs with Essar Capital Ltd., XEMX Projects, Knowledge Integration Services, and Global Green Growth Institute, Seoul to set up new CBG plants across the country. 

Pradhan also laid the foundation stones of five upcoming CBG Plants. These plants are being set up across Gujarat (2), Uttar Pradesh (2) and Punjab (1) by CNM Energy Solution Pvt. Ltd., Carboneu Pvt Ltd., Cities Innovative Biofuels Private Limited, and CEF Budhana Energy Private Limited. 

Pradhan dedicated to the nation the newly commissioned CBG plants of Solika Energy Pvt. Ltd. in Hyderabad and T R Mega Foods and Beverages LLP in Ludhiana. The minister also dedicated new CBG selling retail outlets at Hyderabad (Masab Tank Service Station), Bengaluru (Jai Bheem) and Ludhiana (Sharma Filling Station) to the nation. 

The Union Petroleum Minister also inaugurated the first injection of CBG into the CGD pipeline network at Govardhannathji Energies into Gujarat Gas CGD network at Nadiad Kheda District of Gujarat. This is in line with the recently issued policy guidelines by the Ministry of Petroleum & Natural Gas on CBG injection in the CGD network. 

Pradhan said that the CBG programme under the SATAT has gained momentum, but the growth has to be exponential, not incremental. He said that this requires Oil and Gas PSUs to play a more responsible role, debottlenecking, setting up of infrastructure, hand holding of small entrepreneurs, and convincing big companies to set up mega-clusters for the CBG. 

Speaking on occasion, Tarun Kapoor, Secretary, Petroleum said, "The agreement among government PSUs will inspire confidence among the entrepreneurs putting up CBG plants and remove doubts about the marketing responsibility of gas from these plants." 

The government is in discussion with the state governments to sort out various issues concerning these plants, and also with the fertilizer department for the marketing of manure produced in these plants, added Kapoor. 

The SATAT scheme aims to set up CBG production plants and make it available in the market for use as a green fuel. SATAT envisages target production of 15 MMT of CBG from 5,000 plants by 2023. Besides the potential to boost availability of more affordable transport fuels, better use of agricultural residue, cattle dung and municipal solid waste. The 5,000 CBG plants will provide an investment of Rs. 1.75 lakh crore, an additional revenue source to farmers, and 75,000 direct job opportunities and lakhs of indirect jobs.