India is looking for creating an alliance of liquefied natural gas consumers with Japan and South Korea, and may also include China for better terms from producing nations, as Asian demand for the fuel grows. Minister of State for Petroleum and Natural Gas, Dharmendra Pradhan has stated that for the next two to three decades, gas will be the primary fuel source of India, indicating that greener energy sources like solar and wind would take much more time before taking root in the sub-continent. Minister further stated that they want to bring together the countries and form a network which can together source reasonable, rational and affordable LNG.
Gas Authority of India, the public sector company that processes and distributes natural gas, will take the talks forward and plan the pipeline requirements that will facilitate the creation of such an alliance.
Natural gas currently accounts for about 8 percent of India's overall energy mix. In the last decade, while India's domestic natural gas production has grown by 10 percent, imports of LNG have risen by 335 percent. Minister stated that this is likely to grow further as India gradually shifts to an oil-based economy. India's gas demand stands at 120 million standard cubic meters per day (mscmd) whereas domestic supply is 80 mscmd, making imports very important.