Sumitomo Corporation will be entering the city gas business in India by making a primary investment in AG&P LNG Marketing Pte. Ltd. through a Japanese consortium comprising a new SPC to be formed together with the Japan Overseas Infrastructure Investment Corporation for Transport and Urban Development and Osaka Gas Singapore Pte. Ltd., a subsidiary of Osaka Gas Co., Ltd.
The government of India is seeking to expand the use of natural gas by popularizing compressed natural gas (CNG) vehicles through the development of city gas distribution network (CGD network) and pursuing other approaches as measures to meet the increasing energy demand associated with economic growth and to reduce carbon emissions and air pollution, with the aim of becoming carbon neutral by 2070. City gas distribution companies are granted exclusive authorizations for laying, building, operating, or expanding the CGD network in given authorized areas (GAs) by the petroleum and natural gas regulatory board of India.
As per the press release, Sumitomo Corporation Group regards natural gas and LNG as transition energy sources that play an important role in global decarbonization and is engaged in a variety of business development projects. The Group will contribute through this investment to India’s low-carbonization and decarbonization and to stable gas supply, based on the premise of achieving the Group’s goals of reducing CO2 emissions by 50% or more (from 2019 levels) by 2035 and making its business activities carbon neutral by 2050.
