According to the report, imported LNG prices which had shot up significantly in FY23 due to supply disruptions, arising from the outbreak of the Russia-Ukraine war, have also now normalised during the last year…reports Asian Lite News
India targets to increase the share of natural gas in its overall primary energy mix to 15 per cent by 2030 from the prevailing 6 per cent share, said credit rating agency CARE Ratings.
In its latest report on the industry, CARE Ratings said India is envisaged to have robust demand for natural gas from all the major consumption segments viz. fertiliser, city gas distribution, power, refineries, and petrochemicals.
“After digesting the shocks of the Covid-19 pandemic and the Russia-Ukraine war, gas consumption in FY24 is expected to be the highest ever in the country,” it said.
According to the report, imported LNG prices which had shot up significantly in FY23 due to supply disruptions, arising from the outbreak of the Russia-Ukraine war, have also now normalised during the last year.
Further with a sizeable expansion of LNG export capacities being undertaken by the gas surplus hubs/regions of the world, imported LNG prices in India are expected to remain range-bound, thus supporting demand, the report states.
“The higher demand for natural gas in the country is also expected to be supported by sizeable growth in domestic gas production wherein nearly 30 MMSCMD of new domestic natural gas production has gradually come on-stream over the last three years and another around 15 MMSCMD of new domestic natural gas production is expected to come on-stream during FY25,” CARE Ratings said.
With the rise in domestic natural gas production, India’s dependency on imported LNG, which stood at 53 per cent of total consumption in FY21, has gradually declined over the last three years and is expected to remain at around 45 per cent by FY26, it added.
Saudi announces discovery of number of natural gas fields
The LNG deal comes amidst renewed interest in onshore gas, as South Africa’s power crisis shows few signs of easing…reports Asian Lite News
The recent milestone achieved through the signing of an agreement to advance South Africa’s largest liquefied natural gas project in the Mpumalanga province underscores the significant potential of natural gas as a promising energy source within the nation.
The agreement, a “non-binding term sheet” is a partnership between South Africa’s Industrial Development Corporation (IDC) and Afro Energy, a subsidiary of Australian gas explorer Kinetiko Energy. The initiative is projected to generate 50MW of equivalent energy, growing to 500MW over time. There are also options for the development of further LNG gas equivalent projects.
The deal comes amidst renewed interest in onshore gas, as South Africa’s power crisis shows few signs of easing. TotalEnergies has won approval to search for oil and gas off South Africa’s west coast, and in May, the South African government even announced plans to revisit the idea of shale-gas exploration in the Karoo region.
The Mpumalanga discovery is relatively advanced, and involves an innovative public-private partnership approach. However, the resource – estimated at 3.1 billion cubic feet of natural gas – pales in comparison to the gargantuan gas reserves in other parts of Africa.
Africa’s natural-gas reserves have been estimated at around 620 trillion cubic feet, with the largest resources in Nigeria, Algeria and Senegal.
Thanks to its proximity to Europe, and well-developed LNG infrastructure, Algeria is currently Africa’s largest exporter of natural gas, and the fourth largest gas export in the world with the 10th largest proven natural gas reserves on the planet.
As Europe looks to wean itself off Russian energy, following that country’s invasion of Ukraine, North and West Africa are well positioned to fill the gap. Established trans-Mediterranean gas pipelines can facilitate this, and several more pipelines are in the planning stages.
Supply bottlenecks and political challenges need to be resolved, but the upside for African oil-and-gas exports to Europe is enormous.
Natural gas has also long been heralded as a “transition fuel”, that can help ease the move from oil and coal towards renewable energy. By some measures (https://apo-opa.info/3sZeMy5), gas is a cleaner-burning, efficient fuel that produces fewer carbon-dioxide emissions than other fossil fuels.
It is abundant, and can be compressed, liquified and stored. This storage capability gives natural gas the advantage over forms of renewable energy like solar and wind, which are less easily dispatchable. Storing and providing renewable energy as and when required necessitates complementary technology like batteries, hydrogen or pumped storage.
Gas resources can simply be integrated into the well-developed global natural-gas infrastructure – through pipelines, and the international shipping. This means frontier natural-gas territories – such as South Africa – would be able to “plug in” to this system and begin supplying gas to where it is needed relatively soon after fields are established.
Ghana provides an instructive example of what is possible. The country’s oil-and-gas industry launched with its first discoveries around 2006, and it was able to produce its first product within 40 months (https://apo-opa.info/3rkEXz1). In 2021, the country produced 2,4 million metric tons of gas (https://apo-opa.info/3PY0as9).
The imperative to minimise global greenhouse gas emissions to meet Paris 2050 commitments and to reverse climate change is a serious concern, which must be balanced against Africa’s development imperatives.
Almost half of Africa’s people remain without electricity. The Africa Energy Commission has confirmed that it still sees a role for natural gas in the continent’s evolving energy mix.
In a context where Africa still generates only four percent of global carbon emissions, and the majority of its people still rely on biomass to meet their energy needs, a move to natural gas would still represent a net improvement.
That is the domestic scenario. Globally, the planet is hungry for natural gas. Africa is sitting astride enormous resources, but currently only provides 6% of global gas exports.
The opportunities are significant. There is worldwide gas activity going on, and Africa needs to come to the party.
Russia’s decision to switch payments to its domestic currency has been made in response to the unprecedented penalties imposed by the US and its allies on the country’s financial system, the report said…reports Asian Lite News
Russian President Vladimir Putin has authorised the government, the central bank, and Gazprombank to take the necessary steps to switch all payments for Russian natural gas from “unfriendly states” to rubles starting March 31.
The measure targets “member states of the EU and other countries that have introduced restrictions against citizens of the Russian Federation and Russian legal entities”, the mandate published on the Kremlin website reads, RT reported.
The decision, first announced last week, came as Russia’s oil trade has been left in disarray as importers put orders on hold due to the latest sanctions introduced against Moscow over its military operation in Ukraine.
The conflict in Ukraine and the anti-Russia sanctions that followed have raised concerns of a global economic crisis. Skyrocketing commodity prices are sending the costs of consumer goods, energy, and food ever higher, giving rise to fears of a possible recession in many countries and even hunger in some parts of the world.
Russia’s decision to switch payments to its domestic currency has been made in response to the unprecedented penalties imposed by the US and its allies on the country’s financial system, the report said.
