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 August declined by 18.9 percent to 2.36 billion cubic meters or about 1.73 million tonnes.
Imports dropped compared to the previous month as well.
During April-August, India took 12.34 bcm of LNG, or some 9 million tonnes, down by 10.2 percent when compared to the same period last year, PPAC said.
India paid $1 billion for August LNG imports, compared to $1.2 billion last year, while costs increased to $5.6 billion in April-August from $4.5 billion last year.
As per India’s natural gas production, it dropped by 1 percent to 2.89 bcm in August. Gas production rose by 2.5 percent in April-August to 14.33 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 about $45 per MMBtu 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 87.6 percent capacity while Shell’s 5 mtpa Hazira terminal operated at 47 percent capacity in April-July, PPAC said.