Oil India however registered an increase of 4% in
its gas production during Apr-Sep from last year at 1,577 mmscm but failed to
reach the target of 1,932 mmscm gas production. India’s
import bill for natural gas surged by 18.5% to $7.7 billion during the first
half of the current fiscal compared with $6.5 billion in the same period a year
ago due to a rise in consumption particularly by the city gas distribution
(CGD) companies and the power sector, data from the Petroleum Planning and
Analysis Cell showed.
The import bill for the month of September stood at
$1.2 billion against $1.1 billion in the corresponding period of last fiscal.
In volume term, the country imported 18,975 million
standard cubic meters of LNG (liquified natural gas) during April to September,
up by 23% from the corresponding period of FY24, the data showed. The growth
was also supported by stabilised prices of natural gas from the earlier highs
recorded in FY23, enabling consumers to buy more imported gas, as per analysts.
The country’s dependence on imported gas increased
to 51.5% in the period from 46.8% in April-Sep tember of FY24. In the month of
September alone, the import dependency surged to 49.7% against 46.5% in
September 2023. CareEdge Ratings expects
the country’s gas import dependency to remain at around 45% by FY26.