Petroleum & Natural Gas Reg Board changed rules for obtaining licence

New Delhi, April 4: The Petroleum and Natural Gas Regulatory Board (PNGRB) on Wednesday released new rules on bidding for obtaining a licence to retail compressed natural gas (CNG) and piped natural gas (PNG) in cities.Under the fresh parameters, future auctions would be conducted by asking companies to quote the number of CNG stations to be set up, while for PNG it would be the number of domestic cooking gas connections to be given in the first eight years of operation. Bidders quoting higher numbers of these would be given more marks.The previous criteria for winning a licence - the tariff charge for transporting CNG and or PNG within the city - has been given just 10 percent weightage under the new regulations.The number of CNG stations and PNG connections to be released command 70 percent of the bidding weightage.Bidders will also be required to quote the length of pipeline they would lay on winning the licence.