Hydrocarbon Processing - April 2021 - GP-9

REGIONAL FOCUS

India leaps forward
on natural gas infrastructure
G. FELLER, Contributing Writer

The operator of Europe's largest natural gas transmission
network is working to invest in the Indian gas pipeline business.
Executives at Italy's Snam are working with India's Ministry of
Petroleum and Natural Gas, as well as other Indian government
officials, regulators and industrial executives to explore the full
scope of investment opportunities. Negotiations include several
categories: hydrogen (H2) fuel, gas storage and small-scale liquefaction technologies.
Influx of interest. In late 2020, Snam set up a partnership with

Indian infrastructure and energy group Adani to develop an H2
business in India and abroad, and to use biogas for low-carbon
transport projects. Snam has also signed an agreement with
state-owned energy giant Indian Oil Corp. Ltd. (IOCL) for collaboration on energy transition projects, including gas storage
and regasification.
Furthermore, Snam has struck a deal with Indian renewable
energy company Greenko to research the production of electrolyzer-produced H2. Under the agreement, the two companies
will collaborate on the study of H2 production using renewable
power, on the design of H2-ready infrastructure and on applications for both industry and transport, including fuel cell mobility.
Snam CEO, Marco Alverà, commented on the deals, " We
have the opportunity to bring a valuable contribution to a country that is strongly committed to the energy transition and which
presents many opportunities. These agreements aim at promoting the growth of green hydrogen in India and other countries to
help decarbonize industry and transport and at further developing natural gas and hydrogen mobility in a huge market. "
At present, Snam operates businesses in Italy, the UK, France,
Austria, Greece and China. The company plans to use its deep
gas sector knowledge to propel itself into the Indian marketplace. " The significant push toward cleaner energy shift and toward gas is what makes the country interesting for Snam. This
will require infrastructures and an integrated management of
those infrastructures, " Alverà said.
" Snam is also working on an innovative modular approach to
liquefaction that would enable liquefaction of gas at very competitive costs to foster city gas distribution and to monetize local
stranded gas reserves, " Alverà said. Many of India's small gas fields
are not yet connected by pipeline, but inexpensive liquefaction facilities could help monetize this gas for transport and other uses.
Indian government pushes for gas expansion. State-owned

IOCL operates a 13,391-km network of crude oil, natural gas
and product pipelines, with a capacity of 1.896 MMbpd of oil
and 9.5 MMsm3d of natural gas. This capacity accounts for ap-

proximately 30% of the nation's total pipeline network. The nation's top three companies-IOCL, Hindustan Petroleum Corp.
Ltd. (HPCL) and Bharat Petroleum Corp. Ltd. (BPCL)-contribute more than 80% of the total length of the gas pipeline network in the country.
Last year, India's central government announced a plan to
invest $9.97 B to expand the gas pipeline network across the
country. Even with the COVID-19 pandemic's dampening effect on the national economy, experts inside the government
and the private sector believe that India's consumption of natural gas will increase more than three-fold over the next 10 yr,
making the investments essential.
LNG regasification has become another national priority.
H-Energy is a Mumbai-based, private firm that plans to invest
$540.6 MM to build LNG terminals and lay down a 60-km pipeline. In 2018, H-Energy inaugurated India's first FSRU-based
LNG regasification terminal at Jaigarh Port in Maharashtra.
Overall, India's Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Gas is targeting $100 B of investment in gas infrastructure by 2022.
Investment to support growing demand. India's energy demand is expected to double to 1,516 MM tons of oil equivalent
(MMtoe) by 2035, from a total of 753.7 MMtoe in 2017. Furthermore, India's share in global primary energy consumption is
projected to increase two-fold by 2035. LNG imports account
for approximately 25% of the country's total natural gas demand,
which is expected to double over the next 5 yr. To meet this rising demand for gas, the government wants to increase its LNG
import capacity to 50 MMt.
To encourage greater capital flows into natural gas and oil, India's government allows 100% foreign direct investment (FDI) in
upstream and private-sector refining projects. The FDI limit for
public-sector refining projects was raised to 49% without any disinvestment or dilution of domestic equity in existing state-owned
entities. The government previously approved fiscal incentives in
2018 to attract investments and technologies to improve the productivity of the country's oil and gas fields. When it enacted these
measures, the Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Gas forecast hydrocarbon production worth $745.8 B over the next 20 yr. GP
GORDON FELLER has been writing about energy, particularly oil
and gas, since his first magazine article was published in 1978,
and he has been published in more than 50 industry magazines.
He has undertaken numerous research and writing projects for
large institutions, including the World Economic Forum, the
World Bank, and the governments of Germany, the UAE (Abu
Dhabi), Japan and Canada. He has also won more than two
dozen competitive fellowships. Mr. Feller graduated with a master's degree from
Columbia University in New York City, New York.
Gas Processing & LNG | MARCH/APRIL 2021

Hydrocarbon Processing - April 2021

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