At the Financial Times organised Energy Transition Summit in India, Pankaj Jain, Secretary of the Ministry of Petroleum & Natural Gas, mapped out India’s evolving energy roadmap. His intervention cut through partisan mottos and international pressure with a pragmatic reality check of hydrocarbons remaining central to India’s energy security, but biofuels and hydrogen already altering the mix faster than expected. For energy-intensive sectors such as aluminium, which live or die by affordable and reliable energy, Jain’s remarks are far beyond policy signals and are a blueprint of the fuels that will shape India’s competitiveness for decades.
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The gas backbone of doubling capacity and diversifying supply
Natural gas, often labelled a ‘bridge fuel’, remains at the heart of India’s transition. Jain recalled that in 2014 India had only four LNG import terminals, almost all concentrated in Gujarat, with a total capacity of 21 million tonnes. Today, that figure has more than doubled to 52.5 million tonnes, spread across eight terminals, including new facilities in Odisha, Tamil Nadu, and Maharashtra. Another is in the pipeline.
The expansion has been matched by sourcing diversification. What once relied heavily on Qatar now includes long-term contracts and spot cargoes from the United States, Australia, Mozambique, Brazil, and Canada. “Our pipeline network has doubled since 2014,” Jain said, noting that distribution pipelines “are literally going to every street, household and so on.” The emergence of a true national gas grid, he argued, is already reshaping consumption behaviour.
For the industry, that grid is a game changer. Aluminium smelters, rolling mills, and extrusion plants require round-the-clock energy. While renewable intermittency might make them nervous, a nationwide gas backbone offers flexibility.
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