Page 5 - AsianOil Week 49

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with Indian Minister of Petroleum and Natural Gas Dharmendra Pradhan noting last week that consumption would have to rise from 166mn cubic feet per day at present to 600 mmcf per day by 2030 to achieve that target.
“Twenty five-thirty years ago crude oil was the only priority of our exploration activities, but today the dynamics have changed. Gas has now become an important and essential part of our energy basket and is driving our energy transition,” he said. “Domestic production of gas in India is set to grow. We are investing $60bn in gas-based infrastructure. The speed and scale at which city gas distribution ecosys- tem in the country has grown in recent times is remarkable”
The problem for India, however, is that pro- duction is actually in decline. Gas output in the first half of financial year 2019-2020 slipped by 1.5% on the year to 16.01 bcm. The decline in November, however, sped up reaching 6.2%. This has prompted gas importers to expand capacity and go in search of new supply deals.
Petronet LNG, the country’s leading importer of gas, has approached new suppliers over
potential deals, the company’s head of finance, Vinod Kumar Mishra, revealed last week.
Reuters quoted Mishra as saying on Decem- ber 5 that Petronet had been in talks with LNG suppliers including the US’ NextDecade LNG and that the importer was in the process of appointing a consultant to advise on the deals. Petronet is also understood to be in talks with Tellurian and Qatar Gas to buy stakes in their LNG assets.
To facilitate this uptick in imports the coun- try intends to increase its import capacity from 38.8mn tonnes per year to 52.5mn tpy with the next few years. Moreover, an additional 14,700 km of gas pipeline is in development, almost doubling the existing network of 16,800 km.
The country’s LNG imports rose by 14% year on year in 2018 to 22mn tpy, accounting for around 56% of total demand. Industry consult- ant Wood Mackenzie has forecast that this figure will climb to 40mn tpy by 2030 and then 70mn tpy in 2040. The consultancy expects India to overtake South Korea as the third largest Asian market for LNG by 2030 and rival Japan by 2040.™
Turkmenistan enlists consultant for TAPI
PIPELINES & TRANSPORT
TURKMEN national gas company Turkmen- gaz has hired Italian consultant RINA for the construction of its section of the Turkmenistan– Afghanistan–Pakistan–India Pipeline (TAPI).
Under a contract priced at $13mn, RINA will act as a technical consultant for supervision and project support services for TAPI’s 214-km Turkmen gas pipeline section, as well as the building of two compressor stations. Up to 50 RINA personnel will be working with Turkmen- gaz, the Italian firm said.
TAPI, a $10bn project that has been under discussion since the 1990s, aims to provide up to 33bn cubic metres per year of gas from fields in eastern Turkmenistan to Afghanistan, Pakistan and India. Its Turkmen portion is expected to cost $1bn.
Turkmenistan formally broke ground on the pipeline in December 2015 in a lavish cer- emony involving officials from all four partic- ipating countries. But since then only limited ground work if any has taken place, NewsBase
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