HPCL to invest Rs 2,000 crore for development of 24 CBG projects

State owned energy conglomerate Hindustan Petroleum Corp Ltd (HPCL) plans to invest about Rs 2,000 crore ($231 million) over the next two to three years for the development of 24 new compressed biogas (CBG) plants. The information has been shared by Mohit Dhawan, CEO of company subsidiary HPCL Renewable and Green Energy Ltd.

HPCL Renewable and Green Energy Ltd has already commissioned two plants, including one in Budaun, Uttar Pradesh, and intends to build an additional 24 facilities. Each plant will have a daily production capacity of 10 to 15 tonnes of CBG.

Dhawan held that the plants will be employing agriculture residue, cattle dung, sewage water etc. to produce clean gas.

To bolster cleaner fuel adoption, India has mandated blending 1% CBG into automotive fuel and cooking gas since April. Experts say that this mix will rise to 5% by 2028–29.

Currently, India consumes around 28 million cubic metres per day (MMSCMD) of gas for vehicles and cooking; this is projected to grow to 44 MMSCMD by 2028–29, by which time about 480 CBG plants are expected to be operational—195 of them run by state-owned oil and gas firms.

India, one of the world’s top greenhouse gas emitters, is tapping into India’s waste-to-energy major SAEL to issue IPO within a year—such as agriculture residues, cattle dung, and sewage—to produce low-carbon fuels, in line with its ambition to reach net-zero emissions by 2070.

India currently relies on imported liquefied natural gas (LNG) for almost half its gas requirements. The national goal is to increase gas in its energy mix from the current 6% to 15% by 2030.

With regards to CBG development in the country, HPCL has been sluggish on this front. The company had operationalised its CBG plant in 2024 in Badaun district of Uttar Pradesh built with an investment of Rs 133 crore.