New Delhi, March 23, IRNA -- Seventh Asia Gas Partnership Summit kicked off in New Delhi on Friday.

Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh who inaugurated the two-day summit in New Delhi on Friday, dedicated the 2000-kilometer-long Dahej-Vijaipur-Bawana-Nangal/Bhatinda Natural Gas Pipeline Network to the Indian nation.

The 2,000-kilometer-long Dahej-Vijaipur-Bawana-Nangla/Bhatinda Pipeline of Gas Authority of India Limited (GAIL), completed recently, has the potential to be extended up to the border with Pakistan.

The gas pipeline runs through eight states and is designed to deliver 66 million metric standard (mmscmd) of gas per day.

Inaugurating the summit, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh said remunerative energy prices are essential for expanding supplies, but at the same time governmental and regulatory oversight are essential.

'The government has initiated gas-pricing policy reforms to incentivise production of natural gas. We are conscious that remunerative energy prices are needed to ensure expanded energy supplies,' he said.

'At the same time, oil & gas are natural resources and therefore should be within the framework of governmental and regulatory oversight. The economic exploitation of these resources should lead to a win-win solution for both investors as well as the people of India,' Prime Minister Singh added.

He said the government was committed to taking steps to find viable solutions to meet concerns of the gas industry.

'We are committed to ensure the predictability and transparency of our policy and regulatory environment,' Singh further said.

The Prime Minister also said India's demand for gas has grown by 14 percent over past five years and the country has attracted USD 14 billion in investment in the oil and gas hunt under the New Exploration Licensing Policy.

On the use of new sources of energy, he said Shale gas licensing regime will be in place by 2013.

The Prime Minister said that the emerging economies of Asia are rapidly increasing their use of natural gas. Over past five years, natural gas consumption in India and China witnessed compound annual growth rates of 14 percent and 18 percent, respectively. The remarkable growth in the use of gas in the Asian economies underscores the greater role that this region is poised to play in the future development of gas markets in the world.

The Asia-Pacific region, particularly Australia and the Middle-East, has already emerged as a principal source of gas supply. The Asian region, led by China and India, is also emerging as a major destination for that supply. Asia-Pacific accounts for about 60 percent of world's LNG imports.

Also speaking on the occasion, Union Minister for Petroleum and Natural Gas S. Jaipal Reddy said that India was poised to see the emergence of a national gas grid of 30,000 kilometers by 2017 with a capacity of 875 mmscmd to take natural gas to different markets in the country.

India's current gas pipeline capacity of 230 mmscmd is projected to quadruple within next five years.

'We have a countrywide network of 12,500 kilometers of gas pipelines, with another 12,000 kilometers of pipelines under construction and 7,000 kilometers under bidding by PNGRB, Mr. Reddy said.

The two-day 7th Asia Gas Partnership Summit was promoted by GAIL and organized by Federation of Indian Chamber of Commerce and Industry (FICCI) with the support of the International Gas Union (IGU).