India to Reform Gas Price Regime: Press

India will gradually liberalise domestic gas price regime in order to attract investment and boost local production, country’s petroleum and natural gas minister said on June 26 at the BNEF summit, Reuters reported.

“This is an incentive we are giving to investors to come to India and take advantage of pricing and marketing freedom and produce more and invest more,” Pradhan said at the summit.

India’s gas demand has been rising at a fast pace in recent years driven by economic growth, and it is expected to accelerate over the next decade. But most of the gas that the country uses is imported, as its domestic exploration and production sector has woefully underperformed. India imports half the gas – all in the form of LNG – that it consumes.

India’s domestic gas production has been stagnant in recent years and low prices have played a big role in that. At present, the price of locally-produced gas is set every six months according to a formula and applicable on the basis of gross calorific value.

The south Asian nation is looking to boost the usage of natural gas and hopes to raise its share in the overall energy mix to 15% by 2030 from 6% today. The country’s first online delivery-based gas trading platform was launched earlier this month.