Русский
Russia is increasing liquefied natural gas production and exports despite sanctions and could expand shipments to India, First Deputy Energy Minister Pavel Sorokin has said. He was speaking at the India Energy Week in New Delhi, and said that India, already the largest buyer of Russian crude oil, could also become a major market for LNG.
India’s primary LNG suppliers are currently Qatar and the United States, which together meet about 50% of its demand. However, India’s natural gas consumption is expected to rise by 60% between 2023 and 2030, doubling its LNG import needs, according to the International Energy Agency (IEA).
Sorokin said that “India is one of the furthest points for our LNG. Previously, we didn’t have spare LNG to contract with Indian partners, but this is changing. We are expanding in the LNG market, launching new projects, and hope India will become a major trading partner in this space.”
He emphasized that Russia offers “competitive pricing” and will continue trading with its partners despite mounting sanctions from Washington and its allies. “We are ready to compete in a free market, as long as it’s not accompanied by illegal measures such as sanctions.”
India currently has seven LNG import terminals with a total capacity of about 47.7 million metric tons per year. The IEA suggests that surging demand will necessitate additional import capacity in the latter half of the decade.
Russia is one of the world’s largest gas exporters, shipping a record 33.6 million metric tons of LNG last year, over half of which went to the EU, according to analytics firm Kpler. In December, Deputy Prime Minister Alexander Novak stated that “Russia has big projects ahead, with new volume capacity being built, and LNG supplies ready to go to both Europe and Asia.”
While the EU has banned Russian coal, seaborne crude oil, and refined oil products, it has not imposed direct sanctions on gas and LNG due to its reliance on the fuel. However, the United States has sanctioned Russia’s major LNG producer, Novatek, and its Arctic LNG 2 project, which was expected to produce nearly 19.8 million metric tons of LNG annually, mainly for Asian markets. In January this year, the US sanctioned two Indian entities for allegedly supporting Russia’s Arctic LNG 2 project.
Washington, at the same time, has been pushing India to increase imports of both LNG and oil to reduce the trade imbalance between the two countries. The same pitch was made by US President Donald Trump on Thursday when he met Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi in the White House. This indicates very strongly that US sanctions are being imposed purely for trade competitive reasons. This breaks all concepts of a free market and also WTO rules and regulations.
Speaking after the meeting, India’s Foreign Secretary Vikram Misri said: “I think we purchased about US$15 billion in US energy output. There is a good chance that this figure will go up as much as US$25 billion.”
Further Reading
Eastern Maritime Corridor Emerges As Russia-India-South Asia Red Sea Alternative
