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India’s natural gas demand to decline by 4-5% in 2025
A milder-than-usual summer coupled with elevated spot prices of liquefied natural gas (LNG) in the first half of 2025 is expected to pull down India’s natural gas demand in the current calendar year.
According to Balance Point Research, gas demand in India’s nearly 200 million standard cubic meters per day (MSCMD), or roughly 7 billion cubic feet per day, market is set to decline by 4-5 per cent in 2025.
“In spite of the outturn of LNG flat prices steadily falling since August 2025, and becoming materially cheaper relative to 2024 levels since September, a bid for incremental volumes of internationally-priced, natural gas supply has yet to emerge in size. In November 2025, the volume of LNG imports was on par with one year prior,” it added.
India consumed around 71 billion cubic meters (bcm) of natural gas in 2024 calendar year.
For a year that has not delivered many transitory surges in India’s natural gas demand, said Balance Point Research adding, the market nonetheless offers bright spots of secular natural gas demand growth.
One such example is from local distribution company/ city gas distribution (CGD) networks, which are currently the recipient of significant capex spend.
“The further convergence of global gas prices currently communicated by forward markets will undoubtedly provide a valuable commercial tailwind for natural gas penetration in India. However, the pace at which midstream infrastructure growth is enabling the adoption of natural gas in the world’s largest country by population remains slow,” it pointed out.
The International Energy Agency’s (IEA) gas report 2025 projects India’s natural gas demand growth to slow temporarily, with a projected decline of 3 per cent.
Between 2019 and 2024, demand rebounded after a prolonged period of stagnation, with growth exceeding 10 per cent annually in both 2023 and 2024.
In 2026 however it expects gas consumption growth is forecast to reach 7 per cent, driven by the ongoing expansion of city gas distribution (CGD) and CNG filling station networks, expanding industrial gas use and rising electricity needs.
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