India is to double its share of natural gas in the energy mix to 15 percent by 2022 which will see a hike in imports and huge capital investments inflow for construction of LNG terminals in coming years, according to a new report from Research and Markets.

The energy transformation is the key to diversification in energy supply, affordability and reliable energy access and, most importantly, energy security. India is on the path to energy transformation that is likely to solve the issues of accessibility of energy and related environmental issues. With this mind-set, India has planned to provide the momentum to improve the consumption of natural gas. 

As India already reeling under the weight of growing consumption of crude oil and coal and their associated pollution levels, India proposed to maintain the balance in energy consumption pattern with the help of doubling the percentage of natural gas to 15 percent in the energy mix by 2022. 

Historically, India’s natural gas consumption pattern has been on an upward trend since last 6-7 years. With limited natural gas reserves in India, the imports of natural gas which stood at 12.89 billion cbm in 2011 has increased by more than two times to 26.33 billion cbm in 2018 despite there being fewer LNG terminals.

The report reflects a convincingly positive outlook for natural gas utilisation in the country for future growth as gas economy between now and 2022. Interestingly, local distribution companies (LDCs) and interstate and intrastate pipelines appear to be more confident in future growth, but oil and gas producers are surprisingly not far behind. 

But what is feeding the optimism in the industry participants? India, in particular, is poised to capitalise on low oil prices to embark on new projects. Petrochemical sector developers are assessing the feasibility of new fertiliser and sulphur recovery plants. These downstream projects could result in high returns when the market rebounds, making them easily bankable to investors.

For more information visit www.researchandmarkets.com

11th April 2019