Report recommends policy reforms as India aims to increase share of cleaner natural gas in its energy mix to 15% by 2030, up from 6% today.

Key Findings

• India's Gas Consumption: It will grow by 60% by 2030 and City gas distribution (CGD) sector will lead demand growth.
  • CGD sector supply natural gas to households, industries, etc through pipelines.
• India's Gas Production: Reached 35 billion cubic meters (bcm) in 2023, and Krishna-Godavari deepwater fields contributes one-fourth of total output.
• Imports: India is the fourth-largest LNG importer globally; Imports to more than double by 2030.
• Compressed Biogas (CBG) Potential remains largely untapped (present capacity is <1% of the potential).

Challenges faced by the Gas Sector in India

• Current Pricing Issues:
  • Gas prices from legacy fields (an old, mature natural gas field) are capped at ~USD 10 per million British thermal units (MMBtu), inhibiting full discovery of gas price.
  • Limits are also imposed on gas from high-cost fields like deepwater projects.
• State-owned GAIL (Gas Authority of India Limited) dominates both gas marketing and pipeline transmission, creating potential conflicts of interest.
• India lacks underground gas storage (UGS) facilities and has limited LNG storage capacity.