India’s natural gas import bill jumps 23 per cent in April-September as prices shoot up

New Delhi: The cost of India's natural gas imports jumped by 23 per cent to $8.5 billion during the first half of the current financial year (April-September) from $6.9 billion in the same period of the previous financial year as energy prices shot up in the global market due to the West Asia conflict, according to figures compiled by the government’s Petroleum Planning and Analysis Cell.

Although the increase in the import bill was essentially driven by higher prices, there was also a 4.4 per cent increase in the quantity of liquefied natural gas (LNG) imported during this six-month period, at 18,189 million standard cubic metres (MMSCM) compared with the corresponding figure of 17,414 MMSCM in the first half of the previous year.

The choking of the Strait of Hormuz led to the disruption of import consignments from the neighbouring Gulf region, because of which the oil marketing companies were forced to import more LNG from the US, which involved higher shipping costs, a senior official said.

The production of domestic natural gas declined 4.4 per cent to 16,804 MMSCM during the first half of the current financial year, compared with 17,585 MMSCM a year earlier. This has been attributed to the ageing ONGC and OIL fields.

Overall natural gas consumption remained nearly unchanged at 34,769 MMSCM, against 34,773 MMSCM in the year-ago period.

India's dependence on imported natural gas increased to 52.3 per cent during April-September FY27 from 50.1 per cent in the same period of the previous year, the official figures show.

The data for the month of September show that India's gas import bill remained broadly unchanged at $1.2 billion compared with the same month last year, despite an 8.5 per cent decline in import volumes to 2,957 MMSCM from 3,233 MMSCM.

This reflects the increase in global prices as the West Asia conflict has escalated following the attacks launched by Houthi rebels in Yemen, which has led to the war zone extending to the Red Sea area. The Houthis have taken over vast swathes of territory along the coastal region, which poses a risk to shipping. Consequently, the Red Sea region has emerged as another choke point after the Strait of Hormuz.

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