India’s natural gas consumption is expected to increase this year, driven partly by a projected jump in LNG arrivals that are seen as crucial to the government’s goal to more than double the share of natural gas in the country’s power generation mix by 2030.

“We are expecting Indian liquified natural gas imports to climb in the second half of the year,” said Energy Aspects’ James Waddell, head of European gas and global LNG. “Although imports held broadly flat year-over-year in mid-summer/monsoon season, we anticipate LNG imports to again start rising.” 

India is the world’s fifth largest LNG buyer, according to the International Group of LNG Importers. But Waddell pointed out that it is also a price sensitive market. “If there are strikes at Australian LNG...