The country’s natural gas consumption is expected to increase from 174mmscmd to 550 million standard cubic meters per day by 2030, given the growth in the user base as production capacity expands to other new industries, including steel.
According to ES Ranganath, Marketing Director, GAIL, with the commitment to zero carbon emissions by 2070, the Indian economy is rapidly shifting to cleaner and less emitting resources like gas. We now have a definite policy towards phased reduction of coal from primary energy mix and gas will play an important role with products like Blue Hydrogen and Ammonia keeping in view the energy needs of India.
The government has also set a target of increasing the share of natural gas in the primary energy basket to 15 per cent by 2030. It is currently 6.2 percent. While environment friendly fuel accounts for only 2% of total energy demand. Retail CNG, and CT gas networks have risen to pre-covid levels. Domestic products supply 49 per cent of the total natural gas demand. The rest of the demand is met by the import of LNG.
The need for investment in the
next five to eight years, including the construction of terminals and laying of pipelines to expand the use of natural gas to India in the next 5-8 years at a cost of Rs. 1.6 lakh crore investment will be required. Gas demand is expected to come from industries using blast furnaces including steel, oil refineries, long-haul transport, heating, cooling requirements.