Growing share of gas in Energy and its availability

The government wants to raise the share of gas in its energy consumption mix to 15 per cent by 2030, up from the current 6 per cent. The country currently imports about 50 per cent of its gas requirements. India’s energy demand is raising 4-5 per cent annually.

“When India can import almost 86 per cent of its oil demand at Brent price, why can’t an imported gas-based regime be developed?”

The domestic natural gas industry need to take a holistic view of the sector to raise natural gas consumption in the country and meet demand when it reaches a critical level, Petroleum and Natural Gas Regulatory Board (PNGRB) Chairperson Anil K Jain said.

Arguing that enough natural gas is available for import, he said the domestic market in India needs to amalgamate. Speaking at the India Gas Infrastructure Conference organized by industry body Ficci, Jain said it would be difficult to image a gas-led energy system for India based on only domestic gas, the demand for gas in India is going to grow so much, that will not come from domestic sources.

Asserting that the dichotomy between domestic and imported gas has to go, Jain said a perceived difference between natural gas sourced domestically vis-a-vis imported Liquified Natural Gas (LNG) is also splitting the market.

“Within domestic gas, it has split the market between Administrative Price Mechanism gas and legacy fields. The city gas distribution (CGD) segment has split from industry and agricultural urea markets. Within CGD, it has split transport and cooking versus industry and commercial,” he said.

Natural gas is shipped in its liquid form as LNG to LNG terminals. Regasification is the process of converting the LNG back to its gaseous state by heating it, after which it is transported through pipeline, ”With 45 million tonnes of re-gas capacity at the terminals, and only 25 million tonnes or so coming through it, this is an opportunity. The LNG business has to integrate with the overall gas business,” Jain said. Capacity utilization has, however, been an issue at the terminals.