Qatar is India’s largest source of liquefied natural gas (LNG), accounting for more than half of overall import volumes of the fuel. LNG is a gas that has been super cooled to liquid form so that it can be transported by sea.
- LNG is at the heart of the trade relationship between India and Qatar. It makes up almost 50% of overall Indian imports (by value) from Qatar.
- India’s import dependency in natural gas is around 50%.
- India has set itself an ambitious target to increase the share of natural gas in the primary energy mix to 15% by 2030 from a little more than 6% at present. This is bound to result in a rapid increase in LNG imports over the next few years.
- Natural gas is seen as a significantly cleaner alternative to conventional petroleum fuels like diesel and petrol, and is usually cheaper than crude oil.
- For India, which has an import dependency of over 85% in crude, gas is both more affordable and a better transition fuel in the energy transition pathway.
- India’s total imports from Qatar in FY2022-23 were valued at $16.81 billion, of which LNG imports alone were worth $8.32 billion, or 49.5%, an analysis of official trade data shows.
