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Conference On Gas Trading And Transportation

INTRODUCTION

oilgas World over energy demand is bound to increase with the onset of economy coming out of the woods albeit gradually. Among the top three sources of energy (Oil, Natural Gas and Coal), the share of natural gas in the World Energy basket has been growing consistently over the past three decades and is now close to 24%, in 2013 as compared to 20% in 1980. In order to combat the increasing effect of environmental effects of fossil fuels and contain the climate change, it is imperative that the supply of gas in various forms should keep pace with the growing market demand.
Gas scenario is undergoing dynamic changes as the supply side is set to increase with availability of gas and LNG from a large number of sources both conventional and unconventional. With shale boom a host of liquefaction terminals are on the anvil in the US that would make it an exporter from 2016-17 with net exports expected to reach 10.6 Bcf/d by 2035. The arrival of US LNG exports will have a profound impact on global LNG markets, contributing to a shake-up in the structure of LNG supplies. Besides this, Australia is set to emerge as a major supply source of LNG with other projects being set up in the African countries and Canada. Developments in the tight & shale gas particularly in China besides other countries, new trans-national pipelines being setup in various countries would result in the availability of gas near the demand centers and is likely to alter the world LNG trade routes.
Demand for primary energy demand in South Asian countries and India in particular is expected to increase in future with increasing industrialisation, urbanisation and change on the macro-economic front. Coal will continue to be the major source of primary energy in the country despite its environmental concerns as a fuel. With advances in technology and increased thrust by Governments, various forms of renewable energy are likely to become increasingly competitive and share of these fuels in the energy mix is expected to increase in the future as well. Indian economy has seen a slow economic growth in the year gone by and is estimated to grow at 5.6% in the current financial year. Various estimates point to GDP to be around 7.5-8.0% in India in the next few years and with that the share of gas in the energy mix is slated to be in the range of 22-25% by the year 2025.
In view of the emerging supply sources, it is forecast that globally net inter-regional imbalances are expected to more than double growing at 4% p.a driven by Asia Pacific where imports are likely to triple by 2035. Share of total gas consumption that is imported in the world is projected to grow steadily from 31% in 2012 to 34% in 2035. With the integration of global gas market, LNG share of traded gas rises from 32% in 2012 to above 46% by 2035, while its share of consumption expands from 10% to 15% even though pipeline remains the primary mode of gas trade.
Despite seen in the domestic production of oil and gas, India is far from being self-sufficient in this sector. As per the current estimates, availability of domestic gas in India in the near future will be quite inadequate to meet the emerging demand and hence the Demand - Supply gap has to be met by LNG imports in the future. Same holds true for other South Asian countries.
On account of the scenario as above, India & other nations in South Asia are taking steps to enhance availability of gas through expansion of existing LNG facilities and setting up new LNG import regas terminals including FSRUs. Evacuation of gas at the import points or at the proposed transnational pipelines like TAPI to the consumption zones through a maze of pipeline network in a synchronised manner is the need of the hour. Present plans envisage that each km of gas transmission pipeline in India will cater to an area of about 104 km. However, corresponding figure for countries such as U.S., U.K. and Germany is less than 20 km with neighbouring countries like Pakistan and Bangladesh are far ahead at present with corresponding figures of 76 km and 53 Km.
To address various concerns and the shape of things that are likely to emerge in the next few years. Diligentia Services is organising the conference with experts drawn from various fields to deliberate upon the key issues and developments and review the road map for the growth of gas industry in the South Asian markets with India as the epicentre. The event will promote discussions with a thrust on Global supply chain with impact of emerging new sources on the supply side, various pricing linkages, possible change in the contract terms, spot trading: likely scenario, India as a trading hub:- possibilities & challenges, FSRU as viable alternative, technical advances in LNG regas terminals, small scale LNG, gas storage, onshore & sub-sea pipelines, shipping challenges, LNG by road, regulatory framework, financial risk mitigation various paradigms, consumer perceptions: a reality check and need for reforms in various major consuming sectors.