India’s dependence on imported Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG) exceeded 50 per cent of its consumption for the first time in 2018 according to the Shell LNG Outlook 2019.

“India is also using LNG to meet its increasing needs for a secure energy supply. Domestic gas production dropped and the resulting increase in demand for imported gas was met by LNG (up 10 per cent year on year). LNG’s share of India’s total gas supply mix exceeded 50 per cent for the first time in 2018,” the Shell LNG Outlook 2019 said.

According to the Shell LNG Outlook, China, India, South Korea and Pakistan led the LNG demand growth in 2018

Shell predicts that India and China can double their LNG import infrastructure in 5 years and will be the prominent drivers of demand.

Commenting on the drivers of demand in India, Steve Hill, Executive Vice President, Shell Energy Asia said, “The expansion of terminals in Dahej, Ennore, Mundra and Hazira will be infrastructure projects that can channel this demand in the coming 5 years.”

Hill said that USA, Canada, Mozambique and Russia will be boosting their natural gas production at the same time and may be sources from where this demand can be met.

He also said that this growth will be driven by the same factors that catalysed China’s push towards higher LNG imports. These are largely the need to improve air quality and falling domestic gas production.

The significantly large driver of LNG demand globally has been China. “Ongoing efforts to improve urban air quality saw China’s imports of LNG surge by 16 million tonnes in 2018, up by 40 per cent from 2017,” a Shell statement said.

“We saw Asian LNG demand growth exceed expectations again in 2018 and we expect this strong growth to continue. Investment in new supply projects is picking up, but more will be needed soon,” Maarten Wetselaar, Integrated Gas and New Energies Director at Shell said.

Related Topics
comment COMMENT NOW