Pricing reforms could spur India’s LNG imports

Moves to close the gap between domestic gas prices and those of internationally traded gas could boost activity in India’s under-utilised regasification plants

India's slumbering gas market could be jolted into life, if proposed pricing reforms to recalibrate the risk-reward balance for producers become a reality. Prices are poised to more than double from April 2014 under an ambitious overhaul of the gas sales regime. In mid-January 2014, India’s government put the finishing touches to the new gas price formula, which would apply to all domestically produced gas and be revised on a quarterly basis. According to A K Balyan, chief executive of India’s Petronet LNG, the landfall price of domestic natural gas will rise from $4.20 per million British thermal units (Btu) to $8-$8.40/m Btu this year. This could have significant ramifications for the coun