Rishi Ranjan Kala New Delhi, January 25 India’s imports of liquified natural gas (LNG) during the October-December 2021 quarter stood at 7,896 million standard cubic meters (MSCM), which is the lowest in the last six quarters as the inbound simper volumes got impacted due to high prices of LNG and increasing domestic production.

India had recorded LNG imports of 6,660 MSCM during the January-March 2019 quarter. India had recorded LNG imports of a mere 4,920 MSCM during April-June 2020, which were impacted due to the first wave of Covid infections and massive supply chain disruptions across the globe. A year later, during April-June 2021 quarter, LNG imports were up 66% Y-o-Y at 8,181 MSCM. The data compiled by the Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Gas (MoPNG) shows that during December last year, India imported 2,614 MSCM LNG on a provisional basis, which is also the third lowest in the last 12 months. During November 2021, LNG imports stood at 2,487 MSCM, while in February same year, India clocked imports at 2,520 MSCM. “LNG import for the month of December, 2021 (P) was 2,614 MSCM which was 4.9 per cent lower than the corresponding month of the previous year. The cumulative import of 24,468 MSCM for the current year till December, 2021 was lower by 2.8 per cent compared with the corresponding period of the previous year,” MoPNG said. India’s gross natural gas output in December last year grew 19.5 per cent Y-o-Y to 2,897 MSCM. The cumulative gross production ostood at 25,674 MSCM for the April-December period in FY22, which was higher by 21.5 per cent compared with the corresponding period of the previous fiscal. In value terms, India imported LNG worth $900 million (around ₹6,700 crore) in December 2021. During April-December this fiscal, imports of the fuel were worth $8.7 billion (about ₹65,000 crore).

Increasing trend

Fitch Ratings in a report on Monday said, “We believe rising domestic production and higher spot LNG prices are likely to constrain LNG imports during 4Q FY22 and H1 FY23. Natural gas consumption in April-November 2021 was up by 9 per cent Y-o-Y, as India’s economy recovered from the impact of the pandemic. However, LNG imports were down by 2 per cent, as the higher demand was fulfilled by a steep rise in domestic production”. According to India Ratings and Research (Ind-Ra), spot Asian LNG prices have been on an increasing trend with average LNG price for February 2021 delivery into North East Asia averaging $33.20-34.4 per million British thermal unit (mBtu), after a softening from the record high of $56 per mBtu. Government raised domestic gas prices for October 2021-March 2022 to $2.9 per mBtu, from an all-time low of $1.8 per mmBtu during April 2021-September 2021. The price is linked to prices of four global LNG benchmarks, including Henry Hub and National Balancing Point, in the previous 12 months and is implemented with a quarter’s lag.