The Hindu Business Line : Petroleum, gas regulatory board to be in place soon

Energy efficiency
Initiatives were being taken to have a nationwide gas grid, trans-border trade of natural gas through pipelines and in the form of LNG.
Limitations in the gas pricing policy have been removed with the implementation of NELP.

New Delhi , May 17

The Petroleum Secretary, Mr M.S. Srinivasan, said here on Wednesday that the Petroleum & Natural Gas Regulatory Board would be in place in next three months.

Inaugurating the Indo-US conference on `Building natural gas markets in India', Mr Srinivasan said the Board would promote competition in the oil and natural gas sector.

This would help in the growth of the sector particularly natural gas, which is emerging as the preferred fuel. In India, the share of natural gas in energy mix is slated to increase from 9-10 per cent at present to around 25 per cent over next 25 years in line with global trends, he added.

He also underlined the importance of the conference in the context of the developments in natural gas sector in India.

He said initiatives were being taken to have a nationwide gas grid, trans-border trade of natural gas through pipelines and in the form of liquefied natural gas, which should grow simultaneously without resulting in imbalance in the development.

Limitations in the gas pricing policy have been removed with the implementation of liberal New Exploration Licensing Policy (NELP), the Secretary said adding that this provides incentive to the producers to go in for greater investment in exploration and production activities.

The efforts have resulted in striking more gas in the Indian basins.

Speaking at the conference, Mr David Pumphrey, Deputy Assistant Secretary, US Department of Energy, called for forging partnerships and cooperation between public-private companies of the two countries in the hydrocarbon sector.

The Indo-US Gas Conference is sponsored by Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Gas and US Department of Energy under the aegis of the India - US Energy Dialogue. The conference was organised by GAIL (India) Ltd on behalf of Ministry of Petroleum & Natural Gas.

Under Indo-US energy dialogue, the two countries are working together to meet the increasing demands of energy required for rapid economic development, both globally and within India.

Initiatives are also being taken to increase India's domestic energy production, including sustainable energy resources, reducing the environmental impact of energy production, transport and use, improving the efficiency of energy use, and developing energy technologies.

GAIL to import LNG

GAIL (India) Ltd will import three spot liquefied natural gas (LNG) cargo from Algeria this year, the GAIL Chairman, Mr Prashanto Bannerjee, said. Speaking to reporters on the sidelines of the conference, he said gas will be priced at about $8-9 per million BTU (British Thermal Unit), which is higher than the cost of LNG that India imports from Qatar as global prices have risen since the contract was signed.

``The first cargo is arriving on May 19 at Dahej terminal in Gujarat and two more cargoes are expected in June-July,'' he said.

Mr Banerjee also said almost 23 out of the 55 oil and gas blocks on offer in NELP-VI were attractive for the company.

The company was in dialogue with prospective foreign partners for participating in NELP-VI.