Washington : US has agreed to export ‘Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG)’ to India. The US Department of Energy has authorized the export of 1.8 billion cubic feet of LNG per day to India from one of its projects in the Gulf of Mexico. With increased demands for LNG in India, the supply of LNG from the US can prove to be very important in purview of India’s energy security.
Talks were already in progress between India and the US for ‘LNG’ exports. The ‘Fairwood Group’ jointly owned by India and Singapore and the US-based ‘Peninsula Group’ had invested in ‘Delfin’, the floating LNG terminal. India had proposed for it to receive its LNG supply from a project in the Gulf of Mexico within the US state of Louisiana. The US accepted this proposal and authorized the supply of LNG to India after a long time.
Therefore, India would be supplied with 1.8 billion cubic feet per day of ‘LNG’ for the next 20 years from the ‘Delfin’ LNG terminal. The investments being made to the natural gas sector would prove to be very beneficial for the US economy and generating jobs. The US Energy Secretary Rick Perry while supporting the decision said that it would also prove to play a vital role in maintaining the energy security of its allies.
In the month of March, the Indian Petroleum and Natural Gas Minister, Dharmendra Pradhan met with the US Energy Secretary. During the meet, a special discussion on the proposed supply of ‘LNG’ was carried out. The demand for ‘LNG’ in India is increasing on a big scale. Many projects based on ‘LNG’ have been undertaken in India. Keeping these growing demands in view, India is considering various alternatives for a seamless supply of ‘LNG’. India is largely dependent on the gulf countries for its supply of ‘LNG’ right now. However, given the political and social instability in the Middle East, it has become imminent for India to develop alternative sources for ‘LNG’. India had commenced working on its strategy a while back. Accordingly, investing in the US Natural Gas sector and attempts towards LNG imports from the US, seem to be a part of the same strategy.
Apart from this, India is also focusing on the local production of ‘LNG’ and many projects that are linked to it are underway. The Indian government has set a target to double its ‘LNG’ consumption in energy generation. This requires large amounts of ‘LNG’ import. A provision of 650 billion rupees has been made for it and these funds would be spent on ‘LNG’ imports and fundamental facilities for pipelines.
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