While speaking at the ‘Global Energy Dialogue: India and Natural Gas’ convention on Wednesday in Delhi, Minister of State (IC), Petroleum and Natural Gas, Mr Dharmendra Pradhan said that lack of freedom in gas pricing is one of the key impediments to the growth of the gas market in India. He stated that India is now rolling out policies to increase gas consumption, aiming at a minimum of 24% in the energy basket, compared to the current capacity of 6%, thereby doubling gas consumption. This session was co-organized by Columbia University, NITI Aayog and the Confederation of Indian Industry (CII).
Mr. Pradhan stated that India is now contemplating an investment of USD 5 billion for deepwater exploration over the next five years. He added, “We are now expediting the production of gas from domestic sources to the extent of 20 trillion cubic feet from present sources through policy, fiscal and regulatory mechanisms. These fields and the current auctions of Discovered Small Fields shall add to the domestic supplies in the next 3-4 years.”
Dr. Arvind Panagariya, Vice Chairman, NITI Aayog, said that there is immense opportunity to modify the cooking fuel market. While piped natural gas (PNG) can meet urban demand, LPG can be sent to the hinterland where pipelines do not reach easily.
India’s policies towards pumping natural gas instead of liquid fuel like diesel is expected to see the country’s transportation fuel move on CNG to 25%.
India has committed to improve its carbon footprint and reduce emissions intensity by 33-35% by 2030. India has also targeted building 175 GW of renewable energy capacity by 2022, of which 100 GW will be from solar. India shall also increase its forest cover in order to absorb 2.5-3 Giga-tons of carbon from the atmosphere.
The North and Western regions of India consume around 80% of utilized gas in the country. Mr Pradhan said that around 34 MTPA of additional LNG regasification capacity is being pursued by various agencies and efforts being made to develop corresponding pipelines. The National Gas Grid will be doubled to 30,000 km in the next five years. GAIL (India) Ltd along with the GoI is implementing the construction of the 2,539 km Jagdishpur-Haldia and Bokaro-Dhamra pipeline with an overall budget of around Rs. 12,900 crores.
Mr Amitabh Kant, CEO, NITI Aayog said India has to become gas agnostic and consume all forms of gas.
In his plenary address, Prof Jason Bordoff of Columbia University, spoke of the global changes in gas markets. The shale gas revolution has helped US market move from an import-dependent gas economy to a surplus one.
Mr. Sashi Mukundan, Chair of the CII National Committee on Hydrocarbons and Regional President and Country Head – India, BP Group, urged policymakers to look at innovative ideas like bringing in gas pipelines alongside broadband and other infrastructure as roads get built.
New Delhi
30 November 2016