1st Edition

Natural Gas in India Challenges and Opportunities

By Anil Kumar Jain Copyright 2023
    230 Pages 38 B/W Illustrations
    by CRC Press

    This book provides a detailed discussion on India’s energy mix including descriptive use of the Shannon Wiener diversity index for numerically comparing India’s diversity in energy supply with other leading energy-consuming countries. The likely supply scenarios of both domestic and imported gas, and price competitiveness with competing fuels in differing consuming sectors, have also been presented. Overall, it covers energy systems, a comparison of the Indian natural gas economy with other countries and a scenario-based analysis of gas demand in India in 2030.

    Features:

    • Presents a well-structured and robust thesis on the challenges and opportunities for natural gas in India’s energy future
    • Draws upon key insights, lessons and ways forward from the gas sector reform process
    • Addresses the energy transition scenario towards net zero
    • Includes comparative analysis of India’s diversity of commercial primary energy supply
    • Uses granular data and visual representations of the same to convey the key arguments

    This book is aimed at oil and gas industry stakeholders including professionals, business executives, techno-managerial personnel and students in chemical engineering.

    1 Introduction
    1.1 India’s Energy Challenges
    1.2 Key Factors Affecting Energy Transition
    1.3 India’s Energy Security Concerns
    1.4 Prospects for Natural Gas in India
    1.5 Issues Addressed in This Book
    1.6 Organisation of Chapters

    2 Natural Gas in India’s Energy Mix
    2.1 Indian Ambition for Natural Gas
    2.2 Natural Gas and Economic Growth
    2.3 Natural Gas and Diversity in Energy Mix
    2.4 Uncertainty around the Role of Natural Gas in India

    3 Comparative Analysis of Diversity of India’s Commercial Primary Energy Supply
    3.1 Introduction
    3.2 Approach Adopted for Analysis
    3.3 Energy Transition in the Study Countries (1980–2019)
    3.4 Diversity Indices in Energy Systems
    3.5 Critical Analysis
    3.6 Comparison of Diversity in India’s Energy Supply with Others
    3.7 Summing Up

    4 Growth of Natural Gas in India: A Comparative Study
    4.1 Background
    4.2 Approach Adopted for Analysis
    4.3 Analysis of Impact of Supply and Demand Side Levers on Natural Gas Consumption
    4.4 Comparison between India and Other Countries
    4.5 Summary

    5 Natural Gas Supply Outlook
    5.1 Introduction
    5.2 Natural Gas Exploration Regimes
    5.3 Domestic Supply
    5.4 Imported Supply
    5.5 Availability of Natural Gas Pipeline Infrastructure
    5.6 Supply Projection for 2030
    5.7 Conclusion

    6 Price Competitiveness of Natural Gas
    6.1 Introduction
    6.2 Prevalent Pricing Policies
    6.3 Competitiveness of Natural Gas in Domestic Cooking
    6.4 Competitiveness of Natural Gas in Transport
    6.5 Competitiveness of Natural Gas in Commercial Use
    6.6 Competitiveness of Natural Gas in Industries
    6.7 Competitiveness of Natural Gas in Power Generation
    6.8 Competitiveness of Natural Gas in Urea Manufacture
    6.9 Conclusion

    7 Natural Gas Demand Scenarios for India
    7.1 Introduction
    7.2 Projections of Expert Agencies
    7.3 Approach
    7.4 Consultation with Experts
    7.5 Natural Gas Demand in City Gas Distribution (CGD) Sector
    7.6 Demand for Natural Gas in Power Sector
    7.7 Natural Gas Demand for Urea Production
    7.8 Natural Gas Demand in Industry
    7.9 Aggregate Demand for Natural Gas in 2030

    8 Way Forward
    8.1 Support Needed by Natural Gas
    8.2 Summary of Findings
    8.3 Policy Recommendations
    8.4 To Sum up

    Biography

    Anil Kumar Jain is a member of the Indian Administrative Service, who is presently posted as Secretary in India’s Coal Ministry. Over the past 35 years, he has worked in multiple sectors of the Government, with a particular focus on energy and the environment. He has the rare distinction for a bureaucrat to have specialised across the varied energy domain including fossil fuels, renewables, environment and energy policy. He was head of the upstream vertical in the Petroleum Ministry and oversaw the opening up of the exploration and production regime during the period 2003–08. Thereafter, he headed the Energy Division at the Indian Government policy think tank, the NITI Aayog, where he spent five years overseeing the preparation of the energy demand and emission calculating tool, IESS, 2047, and also wrote the draft National Energy Policy. He led Indian delegations to the energy- and climate-related working groups of G20 under various Presidencies between 2013 and 2017. He has also had a two-year stint at the Environment Ministry handling multiple subjects related to the environment and biodiversity. Since September 2019 he heads the Coal Ministry. While working towards reforming the coal sector with a view to dismantling the monopoly of the Government Undertaking, Coal India Ltd, he has founded the Sustainable Development Cell in the Ministry and coal companies to address energy transition concerns.

    He was associated as a Visiting Senior Research Fellow with Oxford Institute for Energy Studies, through which he published his book Natural Gas in India: Liberalisation and Policy in 2011. He holds a BA (Hons) in Economics, an MBA, a Diploma in International Trade and a PhD on prospects and challenges faced by the Indian natural gas sector.