Chennai, Mar 19 (IANS): India targets to increase the share of natural gas in its overall primary energy mix to 15 per cent by 2030 from the prevailing 6 per cent share, said credit rating agency CARE Ratings.

In its latest report on the industry, CARE Ratings said India is envisaged to have robust demand for natural gas from all the major consumption segments viz. fertiliser, city gas distribution, power, refineries, and petrochemicals.

"After digesting the shocks of the Covid-19 pandemic and the Russia-Ukraine war, gas consumption in FY24 is expected to be the highest ever in the country," it said.

According to the report, imported LNG prices which had shot up significantly in FY23 due to supply disruptions, arising from the outbreak of the Russia-Ukraine war, have also now normalised during the last year.

Further with a sizeable expansion of LNG export capacities being undertaken by the gas surplus hubs/regions of the world, imported LNG prices in India are expected to remain range-bound, thus supporting demand, the report states.

"The higher demand for natural gas in the country is also expected to be supported by sizeable growth in domestic gas production wherein nearly 30 MMSCMD of new domestic natural gas production has gradually come on-stream over the last three years and another around 15 MMSCMD of new domestic natural gas production is expected to come on-stream during FY25," CARE Ratings said.

With the rise in domestic natural gas production, India’s dependency on imported LNG, which stood at 53 per cent of total consumption in FY21, has gradually declined over the last three years and is expected to remain at around 45 per cent by FY26, it added.