The Indian government, following the course of decarbonisation, may increase imports of Russian liquefied natural gas (LNG), said Sergey Kolobanov, deputy director of the Centre for Economics of Fuel and Energy Sectors at CSR.
The expert spoke about India’s interest in expanding the share of natural gas in the country’s energy balance, given the government’s course of decarbonisation of the economy.
“India plans to increase the share of natural gas in its energy mix as part of decarbonisation and is now actively developing its receiving LNG infrastructure. A number of new terminals have been commissioned between 2023 and 2024, with the number of such facilities reaching seven and their total annual capacity now standing at 47.7 million tonnes. All this in the long term increases the potential and opportunities for Russian LNG exports to India, but so far new long-term contracts for such supplies have not been announced,” Sergey Kolobanov told RIA Novosti.
According to the deputy director of the Centre for the Economy of Fuel and Energy Sectors at CSR, imported gas now accounts for about 47% of the total consumption of this type of fuel in India. He noted that locally produced gas is used for municipal consumption, as it is cheaper. For the operation of gas-fired power plants India buys LNG in other countries, the expert concluded.
Recall, earlier RIA Novosti agency with reference to the data of the Indian Ministry of Trade and Industry reported that the trade turnover between India and the Russian Federation in May 2024 was a record amount of 7.5 billion dollars.