It's Light, Natural And Green...

...but India does not have enough reserves of natural gas to meet its energy needs. With the government pushing for clean energy when domestic gas production is falling, and renewables yet to take off, importing it could be the only option.

- Ashish Gupta

WHEN RELIANCE INDUSTRIES announced in 2002 it had struck some 11 trillion cubic feet (tcf ) of gas in the Krishna-Godavari basin, it was akin to striking gold. India, a net fuel importer, seriously started to see a big cut in its energy import bill when Gujarat State Petroleum Corp. (GSPC), too, discovered another 22 tcf of gas in the Cambay basin; Reliance Industries would revise the estimate of its reserves to 14 tcf.

For a nation that imports more than 80% of its crude oil requirements, here was the perfect alternative to polluting fossil fuels: natural gas, a clear, colourless, odourless, non-toxic, and non-corrosive fuel. Many thought that the clean fuel would replace the polluting ones in sectors like power and fertiliser. Its use in non-power sectors would reduce carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions and improve air quality by replacing higher CO2-emitting products like oil naphtha and pet coke in the industrial sector. It was also expected to replace diesel in transportation, and traditional biomass, LPG, and kerosene in the residential and commercial sectors.

In the end, hopes remained hopes. Reliance Industries’ gas finds did not turn out to be as abundant as initially estimated. And GSPC, which was staring at bankruptcy, had to be rescued by the country’s leading exploration and production player, Oil and Natural Gas Corp. (ONGC)—No. 1 on 2019’s Fortune India PSU 50 list—by acquiring it. Today, Reliance Industries is no longer only a major oil and gas player; after battling for years in vain for higher gas prices, it has turned its focus to telecom and entertainment. “The sector failed to realise the coveted status it aspired to, with domestic production stagnating for many years,” says Deepak Mahurkar, partner and leader, oil and gas, PwC India.