Gas imports: PM calls for fair pricing

Suggests buyers unite

Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on Saturday sought efforts from Asia’s Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG) buyers to ensure a fair pricing system for imported gas. He was speaking after dedicating to the nation the LNG terminal of Petronet LNG at Puthuvype near Kochi on Saturday.

“Asia has been the driver of the global LNG demand in recent times. It is therefore important that major buyers of LNG in Asia come together to demand a fair pricing mechanism for gas being imported from outside of Asia. I hope to see India contribute towards an effort of this kind in the future,” he said. The PM said to augment supply of natural gas in India’s energy mix, it was critical to import natural gas either by setting up LNG terminals or through trans-national pipelines.

The Rs 4,500-crore LNG terminal has a capacity of five million tonnes a year. The terminal was commissioned in August last year and is now close to 10 per cent of its capacity. “To make full use of the large investment in this project, we need to now focus on increasing the penetration of natural gas in Kerala by augmenting the pipeline network.