India’s monthly liquefied natural gas (LNG) imports are continuing to decline, mostly due to very high spot prices.
Preliminary data from the oil ministry’s Petroleum Planning and Analysis Cell shows that LNG imports in September declined by 16.3 percent to 2.36 billion cubic meters or about 1.73 million tonnes.
Imports were flat compared to the previous month.
During April-September India took 14.70 bcm of LNG, or some 10.8 million tonnes, down by 11.3 percent when compared to the same period last year, PPAC said.
India paid $1 billion for September LNG imports, compared to $1.3 billion last year, while costs increased to $6.6 billion in April-September from $5.8 billion last year.
As per India’s natural gas production, it dropped by 1.7 percent to 2.85 bcm in September. Gas production rose by 1.7 percent in April-September to 17.18 bcm.
India’s monthly LNG imports have been constantly dropping this year due to mostly high spot prices.
Europe is attracting most of the spot cargoes as European countries look to ensure energy supplies ahead of winter.
The JKM LNG price for November reached $34.779 on Friday.
At the moment, India imports LNG via six facilities with a combined capacity of about 42.7 million tonnes.
Petronet LNG’s 17.5 mtpa Dahej terminal operated at 86.6 percent capacity while Shell’s 5 mtpa Hazira terminal operated at 48.3 percent capacity in April-August, PPAC said.