India to drive LNG production

India to increase LNG imports

While India, like China, is predominately a coal-powered economy, a new report by RNCOS, entitled Global LNG Market Analysis, claims the developed world, includng India, is expected to be behind a robust growth in LNG demand over the next few years.

Despite the economic slowdown last year, the LNG market has continued to grow thanks in part to growth in the Russian market. Not only that, but many countries are really starting to discover the advantages of using LNG over oil and coal and as such, demand is anticipated to grow at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 7.6 percent between 2010 and 2030.

Furthermore, prices of oil and coal have soared and global pressure for governments to cut carbon emissions and move towards cleaner forms of energy have again compounded the demand for LNG.

India's demand

In Asia, India is one of the main LNG importing countries, with the majority of the country's supplies coming from the Middle East - primarily Qatar. India is expected to continue using Qatar's exports over the next few years, retaining its position as the leading APAC LNG importer, but apart from its rapidly growing economy, India also boasts government subsidies on gas prices, encouraging LNG usage in a variety of sectors.

The majority of India's own natural gas supplies has gone into power generation, as well as the country's sponge iron and fertiliser production industries.

The region will also see major increases in natural gas imports as the long-mooted Iran-Pakistan-India gas pipeline comes closer to completion. India, however, will not feature in the infrastructure project, after the country had doubts, not only about the price of the gas, but about the safety of the pipeline in Pakistani territory.

Either way, it would appear that natural gas and LNG are the fuels of the future for the Asia-Pacific region.

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The IPI Peace Pipeline | Asian mineral reserves | Asian energy consumption

Timon Singh

Timon Singh is a graduate of Liverpool University where he received a degree in Social and Economic History. He has previously worked for BBC Magazines on BBC Who Do You Think You Are? Magazine, the publication for the popular genealogy show.

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