The Minister said the government was considering various factors including “energy security and the increasing role of gas the world over, the environment factor, especially in view of global warming, and the stability factor which, unlike the crude oil, gas can offer to the growing Indian economy. Trust, understanding, and commitments [also] have to be factored-in while taking any decision on pipelines,” Mr Sharma said.
Calling for greater partnerships between public sector and private players in the area, the minister commended Reliance Industries for playing a critical role in the hydrocarbon field. India’s GDP is expected to grow at 9% to become the third-largest global economy by 2020, and at this rate the growth in commercial energy demand is expected to be at least 6%. At present, India has one of the lowest pipeline concentrations in the world, with the HBJ pipeline being the only cross-country pipeline covering the northern and western markets. Although the country has huge reserves of natural gas, lack of investment, a regulatory environment not conducive to investment, and limited use of state-of-the-art technology, has led to thorough exploration of only 18% of the country’s sedimentary basins.
Projections show that if the share of natural gas in India’s energy mix rises to 25% by 2032 from the present 9%, the gas demand would increase five-fold to nearly 532cum/d, an increase of 7%/yr.