Faced with electricity crisis, India urged Qatar to speed up delivery of delayed liquefied natural gas cargo
India, grappling with its worst energy crisis in five years, has asked Qatar to speed up the delivery of 58 delayed liquefied natural gas (LNG) shipments, two sources familiar with the matter said. Asia’s third-largest economy is suffering from its worst electricity shortage since March 2016 due to a crippling coal shortage amid high global energy prices.
Infrastructure maintenance at supplier Qatargas has prevented it from delivering 50 cargoes of LNG to India this year, the sources said, prompting the Oil Ministry last week to write a letter requesting delivery of those cargoes.
The ministry is also looking for eight more shipments that were delayed last year at New Delhi’s request after COVID-induced lockdowns reduced demand for supercooled fuel, they said.
The sources declined to be named because they are not authorized to speak to the media. The country’s largest gas importer, Petronet LNG, has entered into long-term agreements to purchase 7.5 million tonnes per year (mtpa) of LNG in Qatar and 1.44 mtpa from Exxon’s Gorgon project in Australia.
LNG under these long-term deals costs around $ 11-12 per million UK thermal units (mmBtu), compared to over $ 38 per mmBtu currently in the spot gas market in Asia and a record over of $ 56 reached earlier this month. Indian customers in August began to defer spot LNG imports due to high prices, then Petronet LNG CEO AK Singh said.
He said India’s energy sector is cutting back on LNG consumption once prices rise above around $ 10 / mmBtu. India has 24 gigawatts (GW) of gas-fired power generation capacity, of which around 14 GW has been stranded for more than 10 years due to the unavailability of gas, while the remaining plants are operating at very low levels. capacity.
The Oil Ministry, Qatargas and its parent company Qatar Energy did not respond to Reuters emails seeking comment.
Source : The Bharat Expressnews
