Three of the nine new terminals are floating regasification units (Jafrabad, Karaikal and Jaigarh), which will come on stream in the states of Gujarat and Maharashtra near the western coast of India, as well as in the union territory of Pondicherry in the southeast of the country. The other projects will be implemented on the ground, including two stages of the under-construction Dabhol terminal in Maharashtra; two new stages of the operating Dahej terminal in Gujarat; and the Chhara and Andhra Pradesh projects based in Gujarat and the southeastern state of Andhra Pradesh, respectively.
In addition to the new regasification terminals, India will be expanding the capacity of its gas transmission infrastructure in the coming years. The U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) reports that the combined length of India’s gas pipelines totals 23,200 km, with projects for another 12,200 km at the construction and investment stages, including the 3,300-km Urja Ganga gas pipeline and the 1,700-km Jagdishpur-Haldia gas pipeline.
According to the Energy Institute, India’s gas production reached 31.6 billion cubic meters in 2023, with gas demand at 62.6 billion cubic meters. The power, transport, housing and services sectors account for one-third of the country’s gas consumption, with the rest going to industry, including for the purposes of fertilizer production. The average growth rate of gas demand in India significantly exceeded the rate of domestic gas production growth in the period from 2013 to 2023 (0.2% versus 2.5% per year), which means that the dependence on gas imports is likely to increase.
In this regard, gas will continue to play a relatively small role in India’s power industry. In 2023, the country had 32 GW of gas-fired TPPs in operation, accounting for a mere 2.7% of the domestic power output. Coal remains the key source of electricity: it accounted for 75% of the country’s power output in 2023. In the coming years, the share of coal will gradually drop due to renewable energy development: the Indian government plans to increase the installed capacity of renewables to 500 MW by 2030 (compared to 176 GW in 2023).
