The 8th edition of LNG India Summit 2024 which concluded successfully on 31st May 2024, marked a significant milestone in the advancement of the LNG sector. The two-day conference turned out to be an insightful platform as it opened up the stage for the industry leaders to discuss the challenges and share their recommendations to boost the growth in the sector.
Coming to a successful conclusion, the LNG India Summit 2024 resulted in bringing out insights from industry experts and speakers. The curated discussions as the two days resulted in bringing out opinions, and strategies to forward the LNG market. LNG India Summit functioned as a platform for developing critical policy recommendations which will be submitted to the Government of India for boosting the small-scale LNG (ssLNG), in turn reinforcing the importance of the summit which enables a seamless collaboration of the industry leaders and government officials to plan the future of the sector.
The panel discussion on ‘LNG as a Viable Fuel and ssLNG to expand natural gas access in India’ witnessed some of the key recommendations from the industry. Prime Minister, Narendra Modi has already announced India to become a gas-based economy where the share of natural gas should reach 15% from the current 6.5%. The share of natural gas in total energy in the state of Gujarat has already reached 24%. Given this, the panellists suggested the following initiatives that are required for LNG or Regasified Liquefied Natural Gas (RLNG) to become the most favoured fuel:
- Notifying Natural Gas/LNG under GST at 5% to enhance its use
- Removing 14% excise on CNG as compression of gas does not amount to value addition
- Replacing LPG to the maximum extent with Regasified LNG in urban areas
- Developing gas supply grid network to cover all City Gas Distribution (CGD) Gas wards.
Prominent speakers who participated in the discussions included:
- Rajnath Ram, Adviser (Energy/Natural Resources & Environment), NITI Aayog
- RRK Kishore, Director-Technical, Association of State Road Transport Undertakings (ASRTU)
- Rajesh Kaul, Vice President & Business Head, Trucks – CVBU, TATA Motors Ltd
- Kapil Kumar Jain, Executive Director (Marketing – Retail LNG), GAIL India Ltd
- JP Misra, Chief General Manager (Gas), Indian Oil Corporation Ltd
- Maqsood Shaikh, Managing Director & Chief Executive Officer, Ultra Gas & Energy Ltd
- Ms Payal Goel, Director-Consulting, Deloitte
Both days of the conference highlighted critical aspects of developing the sector with experts sharing their perspectives on infrastructure, future goals and global trade.
Chief Guest Dr Vijay Kumar Saraswat, Member, NITI Aayog, briefed the audience on the overall natural gas scenario as a source of energy in the country who states highlighted that the fixed 15% gas share will result in reducing India’s dependency on coal and oil depending on the economics which will play a major role as India is importing LNG to meet almost half the demand for gas.
Dr Ashok Kumar Balyan, Chair of Committee – LNG India Summit and Chairman & Director, Carmine Energy Pte, discussed the industry pressures, decarbonisation strategies, the potential of hydrogen and carbon capture and the need for the oil and gas industry to adopt cleaner systems. He said: “Gas is thriving not up to 2050 but may be beyond that, and within the gas business, it is LNG which is thriving. India must establish its priorities to meet the goals the Indian government has set.”
Bhushan Sharma, Joint Secretary, Sagarmala, Ministry of Shipping, Ports and Waterways, gave insights on green shipping initiatives and decarbonization. He informed: “We have opened the dialogue with Singapore to be a part of their digital and green shipping corridors – where we will be digitalizing all the paperwork which is already registered in the national logistics portal where stakeholders are boarded – such as bankers, customs and port authorities. I must say LNG India Summit is a great platform to interact with all the stakeholders and a lot of deliberations and new ideas have come up. I wish all the best to the organisers of LNG India Summit.”
Deepak Mishra, Joint Secretary, Department of Chemicals and Petrochemicals, Ministry of Chemicals and Fertilizers, Government of India, said: “The future of natural gas, especially the LNG is very bright. In the future, fuels like diesel and petrol will be replaced with cleaner alternatives – LNG. As we move towards net zero sustainability, the future of LNG looks very good.”
Sharing his views on the summit, Sachiv Kumar, Additional Director General, Development Directorate General of Hydrocarbons, Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Gas, Government of India, said: “Forum like the LNG India Summit is needed as a lot of technology induction is needed in the LNG business and such a forum provides us a platform to come together and share our opinions. In the next four to five years, small-scale LNG business will boom in India.”
Satinder Pal Singh, Chief Executive Officer, Adani Total Pvt. Ltd, said: “Forums like LNG India Summit play a vital role in forming an opinion and act as an advocacy group through conferences.”
Sandeep Jain, Executive Officer, Indian Oil Corporation Ltd, said: “The experience is wonderful. This is the first time that I have attended this conference. The program has helped not only the public at large to know what’s happening as far as LNG and gas is concerned but there have been participants in double figures from Indian Oil and three figures from all other companies. It has helped them to get updated and it helps youngster to be groomed to take up bigger roles and meet their future aspirations.”
Gurpreet Chugh, Managing Director, ICF, said: “At this moment, India needs to make a strategic move on how it wants to ensure supplies to meet the growing demand or expected demand that will grow in India. LNG India Summit is a great initiative, the speakers of the summit were an excellent collection of people who shared different experiences from the value chain of LNG.”
The Advisory Committee of LNG India Summit also plans to submit the industry recommendations by the speakers and attendees to the concerned government department and regulatory bodies to support the sector’s growth and transition towards cleaner energy sources.
