Page 4 - AsianOil Week 06 2023

AsianOil COMMENTARY AsianOil

India announces plans to ramp up

LNG imports as shift away from

coal gains pace

As the world’s third-largest energy consumer, India meets close to half of its gas demand from imports.

INDIA INDIA will prioritise boosting its liquefied nat- to accelerate its transition away from coal. The
ural gas (LNG) import capacity, Prime Minister state-run company intends to increase capacity
WHAT: Narendra Modi revealed on February 6 at the of its LNG terminals by over 50% in the years
India is seeking to India Energy Week (IEW) conference in Ben- ahead.
increase LNG imports by galuru, with New Delhi setting a target of raising Construction on Petronet’s third LNG ter-
an addition 12mn tonnes the proportion of natural gas in its energy mix to minal Gopalpur, located in Odisha State, is
per year. 15% by 2030 from its current level of 6%. expected to be completed by the end of 2025.
State-owned Petronet LNG hopes to add The 5mn tpy facility will be Petronet’s first ter-
WHY: 12mn tonnes per year (tpy) of additional sup- minal on the country’s east coast. It also owns
The country has set a ply through long-term contracts, the company’s the 17.5mn tpy Dahej LNG terminal in Gujarat
target of raising the share managing director, Akshay Kumar Singh, said State and the Kochi LNG terminal in the state
of natural gas in its coal- at IEW. It is equivalent to roughly 60% of the of Kerala.
heavy electricity mix to country’s deliveries last year, when it imported Of the additional 12mn tpy of LNG capacity
15% by 2030 from about 20.03mn tonnes. Petronet is seeking to add, 5mn tpy is earmarked
6% now, and LNG imports The company also revealed during IEW that for the Dahej terminal, 4mn tpy for Gopalpur
will be relied on heavily. it will seek to add an additional 1mn tpy of LNG and 3mn tpy for Kochi. Currently, the Kochi
supplies when it renews its long-term deal with facility is running below capacity since pipeline
WHAT NEXT: Qatar, according to Reuters. Currently, Petronet connectivity is not fully completed.
The soaring demand is importing 8.5mn tpy from Qatar at a cost of Meanwhile, Gail (India) Ltd also revealed
for LNG imports is $16 per million British thermal units (mmBtu) during IEW that it is holding talks for long-
anticipated to take the and has until the end of the year to renew the term deals with Abu Dhabi National Oil Co.
share of LNG in India’s agreement. (ADNOC) and Russia’s Novatek.
gas consumption forecast Beginning in 2025, Petronet will also import
to about 70% from the an additional 0.6mn tpy on top of the 1.42mn Shift away from coal
current level of 50% over tpy it is currently purchasing from ExxonMobil’s India currently generates about three quarters
a 10-year period. Gorgon project in Western Australia. of its electricity by burning coal and has ac-
Petronet is in the midst of expanding capac- knowledged that it must begin reducing its coal
ity of its LNG terminals as the country seeks dependency to achieve sustainability targets. It

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