Environmental Engineering Reference
In-Depth Information
excellent gas-based infrastructure. On the other
hand, countries like the USA, Russia, Qatar and
Iran are rich with natural gas reserves and are
natural users of their own resources. On the con-
trary, countries like Japan, Spain, China and India
are relying on heavily imported gases either in
the form of LNG or PNG. A glance at global con-
sumers of natural gas in 2012 suggests that the
USA (722.1 BCM, 21.9 % of global consump-
tion), the Russian Federation (416.2 BCM,
12.5 %), Iran (156.1 BCM, 4.7 %), China
(143.8 BCM, 4.3 %) and Japan (116.7 BCM,
3.5 %) are the leading consumers. In 2012, India
consumed 54.6 BCM (1.6 %) of natural gas and
produced only 40.2 BCM (1.2 % of global pro-
duction). Low level of production happened due
to a drastic fall in gas production from gas fi elds
in the KG-D6 block in the east coast of India. The
highest production achieved 62-63 million
standard cubic metres per day (MMSCMD) in
August 2010 and reached as low as 17 MMSCMD
in October 2013. Countries like Japan, Spain and
Pakistan don't have adequate natural gas reserves
but have signifi cant gas infrastructure in place.
India needs to promote natural gas as a compet-
ing fuel. Of course, to a large extent India contin-
ues to import natural gas from the MENA region
to meet the demand. Unlike China, India doesn't
import gas through pipelines; rather it relies on
liquefi ed natural gas (LNG) import. Qatar and
Nigeria are the primary sources of LNG import
for India. Recently, Australia and the USA
emerged as new sources of LNG import. LNG
import from Australia could prove relatively
costly compared to Qatar. Over the last decade,
India has been able to develop fairly good LNG
infrastructure having LNG receiving terminal
and re-gasifi cation facility at Dahej (10 MMTPA),
Hazira (3.5 MMTPA), Dabhol (5 MMTPA) and
Kochi (4 MMTPA). The LNG re-gasifi cation
facilities are planned in east coast (5 MMTPA),
Mundra (5 MMTPA), Ennore (5 MMTPA), west
coast (2.5 MMTPA), Pipavav (12.5 MMPTA),
Jamnagar (5 MMPTA) and Dhamara (5 MMTPA)
and all planned facilities could come up by 2019-
2020. In order to secure LNG supply, long-term
contracts have been the preferred option along
with short term and spot buying. For example, the
Gas Authority of India Limited (GAIL) - a state-
owned gas company - has been successful in
securing LNG under long-term agreements from
suppliers like Sabine Pass (USA), Dominion
Cove (USA) as well as Gazprom (Russia).
GAIL's imported volumes are from the US
Sabine Pass Project (3.5 MMTPA); US Dominion
Cove Point (2.3 MMTPA); and Gazprom,
Shtokman LNG project (2.5 MMTPA) for which
supplies are expected to commence during 2018-
2020. Further discussions are underway with
other suppliers also from countries like the USA,
Qatar, Algeria, Mozambique and Nigeria for
securing additional volumes. GAIL bought 20
cargoes in the last fi scal year and would be buy-
ing some 34 LNG cargoes in the current fi scal
year and 34-35 next fi scal (Press Trust of India
2013
). In addition to the relatively expensive
LNG import, India needs to build a transnational
gas pipeline for importing natural gas from gas-
rich countries like Iran, Turkmenistan and
Myanmar. Recently, the Comptroller and Auditor
General (CAG) raised queries over inadequate
progress made in the execution of transnational
pipeline projects, including the Iran-Pakistan-
India (IPI) pipeline, Turkmenistan-Afghanistan-
Pakistan-India (TAPI) gas pipeline and the
almost-defunct Myanmar-Bangladesh-India gas
pipeline (The Hindu
2013
). Some progress has
been made in the recent past (in 2012); India,
Pakistan, Afghanistan and Turkmenistan signed
an agreement for building the TAPI pipeline to
carry 90 MMSCMD of gas for a 30-year period
and is likely to become operational by 2018.
India and Pakistan would get 38 MMSCMD
each, while the remaining 14 MMSCMD will be
supplied to Afghanistan (The Hindu
2012
). The
countries are going to be immensely benefi ted
from the TAPI deal, especially India and Pakistan.
Pakistan and Afghanistan are not only going to
receive gas but also a transit fee of 50 cents/
MMBTU. The contract price of TAPI gas is
linked to a formula which contains indices based
on fuel basket and other indices which are not
as volatile as crude oil, so it would give supply
security and price stability. Another pipeline project
that is believed to be very crucial for gas market
development in India is the India-Pakistan-Iran
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