Indian LNG demand has questions to answer

Despite predictions of explosive growth, price-sensitive buying behaviour and infrastructure challenges cast a pall over the outlook

The large LNG SPA renewal between state-owned QatarEnergy and Petronet turned heads at India Energy Week in early February. The Indian importer agreed to buy 7.5mt/yr from Qatar until 2050, renewing earlier deals that had started in 2004 and 2008. QatarEnergy followed up the deal a few weeks later by announcing it would build an additional 16mt/yr of capacity on top of the 50mt/yr North Field East and North Field South expansions already underway. Petronet’s CEO said in February that he expected LNG demand in India to rise to 150mt/yr by 2030, a sevenfold increase. With approximately 200mt/yr of new LNG export capacity under construction globally and another 220mt/yr in serious development,