India’s natural gas demand rebounds, reaches near pre-Covid level
India consumed 5,333 million metric standard cubic meters (MMSCM) of natural gas in July as against 5,433 MMSCM in the same month last year, official data showed
NEW DELHI: Higher demand from fertilizer plants, refineries and power plants has helped natural gas demand recover to almost pre-Covid levels with consumption in July just 2 per cent lower than last year.
India consumed 5,333 million metric standard cubic meters (MMSCM) of natural gas in July as against 5,433 MMSCM in the same month last year, official data showed. This is a sharp recovery from June when the consumption of 4,925 MMSCM was 9 per cent lower than a year earlier.
Increased demand by fertilizer makers, power plants and refineries has led the revival, offsetting poor show by city gas players, which mainly supply to local industries and gas-based city transport. Lower price for imported liquefied natural gas (LNG) also helped boost local demand. LNG import rose 6 per cent to 2,963 MMSCM in July from a year earlier. LNG made up 55.6 per cent of the country’s total gas demand in July.
“Natural gas demand has got redistributed,” Petronet LNG managing director Prabhat Singh said, adding that city gas distributors were still drawing less than what they did before the onset of the pandemic but increased demand from industries has resulted in recovery of overall demand. Petronet, the country’s largest gas importer, is operating both its import terminals at pre-Covid levels.
For the April-July period, the consumption of gas is down about 11 per cent from a year earlier to 18,867 MMSCM. The import of LNG has also been 8 per cent lower in the same period.
India has six LNG import terminals with a combined capacity of 42.5 million tonnes per annum. During April-June this year, Shell Energy’s terminal at Hazira in Gujarat clocked the highest capacity utilisation of 87.8 per cent while Indian Oil’s new terminal at Ennore operated at the lowest 8 per cent utilisation.
