Adani Total Gas Ltd (ATGL), the joint venture between Adani Group and TotalEnergies of France, on Thursday (June 29) said that it will invest Rs 18,000 crore to Rs 20,000 crore in the next 8 to 10 years. According to Adani Total Gas Ltd’s Chief Financial Officer, Parag Parikh, the investment will be made to expand infrastructure for retailing CNG to automobiles and piping gas to households and industries.
The company has over 460 CNG stations in the country and retails CNG to automobiles and pipes gas to household kitchens for cooking purposes in 124 districts of India. ATGL has about 7 lakh consumers for its piped cooking gas.
The statement comes as the company is looking to expand its network of CNG stations as well as pipeline network in order to successfully tap into the country’s growing appetite for cleaner fuel.
Creating infrastructure
Parikh in the company’s latest annual report disclosed that the company invested over Rs 1,150 crore in 2022-23 (April 2022 to March 2023) for creating additional infrastructure.
“From a long-term perspective, we continue to be optimistic of gas prospects. There is a larger priority to moderate pollution as gas remains a preferred clean energy source with high user safety, customer trust and delivery convenience,” Parikh said, adding that ATGL will be investing more in the coming times with their aim to create infrastructure and expand its network.
“For our city gas distribution (CGD) business, we intend to invest around Rs 18,000-20,000 crore in the next to 8-10 years to build infrastructure that widens our customer base and sustains revenue growth,” he said.
Exploring new opportunities
Speaking on the development, AGTL CEO Suresh P Manglani expressed his confidence in the futuristic plans of the firm and said the company’s strategy is to fast-track steel pipeline laying and build CNG stations faster across the licenses where it operates for early monetization.
“I am happy to share that your company is going to build over 1,800 CNG stations in the next 7-10 years and committed to connecting every home across all our geographical areas (GAs) desiring to have cleaner and greener piped natural gas in their kitchen,” Manglani said.
Adani Total Gas Ltd is not only looking forward to scaling core business of gas distribution, but also on diversifying its bouquet of choice and tap into newer opportunities- CNG, compressed biogas (CBG) and EV charging.
“The time is coming when we will have widened our portfolio of service to a range of clean fuels that address different applications for different consumers, reinforcing our positioning as a one-stop comprehensive service provider,” AGTL CEO said.
While speaking about the new opportunities for the firm to explore, Manglani said ATGL has formed two separate units for e-mobility and biomass.
“Foraying into the rapidly growing segment of e-mobility, ATGL has formed a wholly owned subsidiary, Adani TotalEnergies E-mobility Limited (ATEL). Presently, ATEEL is engaged in setting up EV charging infrastructure for two, three and four-wheelers (including bus) at various locations across the country,” Manglani said.
EV charging is a natural fit in ATGL’s existing business of CNG retail outlets and is a step towards offering alternative fuel choices to consumers, he said.
Notably, the company already has 104 charging points at 26 locations across India, and plans to scale it up to over 3,000 EV charging points in the near future.
‘ATGL is at the right place, right time and in right business’
Adani TotalEnergies Biomass Limited (ATBL) is ATGL’s wholly owned subsidiary to tap into India’s huge potential of biomass derived energy. ATEBL is currently building one of India’s largest Compressed Biogas (CBG) plants at Barsana near Mathura in UP with eventual 600 tonnes per day feedstock processing capacity.
“ATGL is at the right place, right time and in the right business to capitalise on economies and generate healthy financials across the foreseeable future,” the CFO said.
Meanwhile, the government has pledged to increase the share of natural gas in the economy to 15 per cent of its energy mix by 2030 from the current 6 per cent as it is less polluting than liquid fuels.
Manglani hailed the government’s move to cap the cost of natural gas and said that it will bring stability in prices and prioritise availability to the city gas distribution network.
“This price stability and supply predictability will empower companies like yours to enhance services around this stable pricing and accelerate the country’s fuel preference in line with the stated policy,” he said.
Manglani said the floor and ceiling set by the government for the majority of the gas produced within the country will “ensure a stability in domestic gas prices and get India beyond the gas volatility of FY 2022-23.”
(With inputs from PTI)
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