The Petroleum and Natural Gas Regulatory Board (PNGRB) has approved a proposal by the Indian Gas Exchange (IGX) to introduce a platform for listing and booking unutilised liquefied natural gas (LNG) regasification capacity. According to reports from Rediff Moneynews and Business Standard, the voluntary platform will allow LNG terminal operators and capacity holders to list unused capacity, enabling prospective users to identify and book available slots according to their requirements. The initiative comes as several LNG terminals report low capacity utilisation, leaving scope to attract additional cargoes by offering unused regasification capacity at competitive charges. Regasification is the process of converting LNG, transported in liquid form, back into gas for supply through pipelines.
The platform is expected to improve price discovery for regasification services by providing a transparent mechanism through which available capacity can be listed and accessed. As reported by Rediff Moneynews and Business Standard, buyers will also be able to indicate their capacity requirements, helping market participants better match available infrastructure with demand. IGX will facilitate capacity bookings, while commercial negotiations, payment settlements and risk management will remain directly between buyers and sellers under their respective agreements. Participation by terminal operators, capacity holders and prospective users will be voluntary.
PNGRB said the initiative would complement its earlier decision to reduce the number of natural gas pipeline tariff zones to two, a measure intended to improve the competitiveness of LNG terminals located farther from consumption centres. According to Business Standard, the regulator emphasised that a large number of terminals were reporting poor capacity utilisation and that the proposed platform by IGX would help attract LNG cargoes by transparently discovering lower regasification charges. The combined measures could help make better use of existing gas infrastructure by easing access to regasification capacity and improving the economics of sourcing LNG through different terminals. The proposed facility preserves the bilateral nature of commercial arrangements while introducing an organised exchange-based mechanism for identifying and booking available capacity.
India has been seeking to expand the role of natural gas in its energy mix, making efficient use of LNG import terminals and pipeline infrastructure important to improving supply flexibility. As reported by Rediff Moneynews and Business Standard, the extent to which the new platform boosts utilisation will depend on the availability of unutilised capacity, the competitiveness of regasification charges and demand from prospective users. The platform addresses the challenge of underutilised LNG terminals by providing a structured approach to match available capacity with market demand through IGX's established exchange infrastructure. IGX is India's first and only authorised physical delivery-based gas trading exchange, providing a marketplace for trading natural gas.
