The Government’s plan to more than double the share of natural gas country’s energy mix from 6.5 per cent in 2015 to 15 per cent would necessitate investments of at least Rs 65,000 crore (nearly $10 billion) just to augment infrastructure for gas import and for laying pipelines, says a report from Crisil
Energy mix refers to the proportion of various fuels in overall energy consumption. The report said if the share of gas in India’s energy mix has to rise to 10 per cent by 2020, it would mean a doubling of gas consumption to over 100 billion cubic meter (BCM) from current levels. But given that domestic gas production is limited, demand for imported lNG would surge three-fold to 65 BCM, or over 50 million tonnes.
Collaterally, to import this lNG, India’s regasification capacity will have to increase to 60 million tonnes compared with 25 million tonnes now. Crisil Research said its analysis shows that would entail investments of Rs 30,000-35,000 crore. And for all that gas to be consumed, 9,000 km of pipelines would have to be laid in east and south India, which would cost another Rs 25,000- 30,000 crore.