New Delhi: The Petroleum and Natural Gas Regulatory Board (PNGRB) has give its approval to the Indian Energy Exchange (IEX) to operate India's first automated delivery-based gas trading platform, Indian Gas Exchange. "The Indian Gas Exchange (IGX), India's first automated delivery-based gas trading platform, is delighted to announce that it has secured the necessary authorisation to operate as a gas exchange as per the provisions of the Petroleum and Natural Gas Regulatory Board (Gas Exchange) Regulations, 2020, for a period of 25 years. The GER 2020 Regulations were notified by Hon'ble PNGRB on September 28, 2020. IGX had submitted its application for authorisation on October 08, 2020 in accordance with the prescription under the GER 2020 regulations of the Hon'ble PNGRB," said IEX in an official statement on Thursday.
Sharing his views on the occasion, PNGRB Chairperson DK Sarraf said, "PNGRB is pleased to grant the necessary authorisation to the Indian Gas Exchange Limited basis its application dated 7 October 2020. With this development, IGX has become first regulated gas exchange in the country. The exchange will play an instrumental role in transparent discovery of gas prices, accelerate investments in the value chain, aid in capacity utilisation of pipelines as well as boost consumer confidence and in turn increasing gas demand in the country We wish IGX team the very best in this endeavour and hope it makes a meaningful contribution to India's target of increasing the share of gas in the overall energy mix from 6 percent to 15 percent by 2030".
SN Goel, Chairman Indian Energy Exchange and Director, IGX said, "This is a landmark development not just for IGX but for the overall gas sector and economy at large. The market mechanism will create competitive markets to benefit the end consumers with competitively priced gas and cost-effective price signals, will facilitate demand growth thereby leading to development and investments in upstream and downstream parts of the value chain. As a regulated entity, IGX is poised to further establish and reinforce greater trust and credibility among the market participants. IGX also envisions to create Indian gas benchmark as IEX has done for electricity."
IGX is incorporated as a wholly-owned subsidiary of the IEX. The Indian Gas Exchange (IGX) currently offers trade in five contracts — daily weekly, weekday, fortnightly and monthly — at three physical hubs at Hazira and Dahej in Gujarat and KG Basin in Andhra Pradesh. The exchange has since received encouraging response from all stakeholders and will shortly commence trading with over 500+ registered clients and 14 members, said the statement. Since its launch on June 15, the platform has cumulatively traded 74,600 MMBTU.
Through its robust value proposition such as transparency, flexibility, settlement, delivery facilitation and competitive price discovery, it aims to set competitive price benchmarks in the Indian gas market, the statement said.
(PSU Watch– India's Business News centre that places the spotlight on PSUs, Bureaucracy, Defence and Public Policy is now on Telegram. Join PSU Watch Channel in your Telegram and stay updated)