Qatar Assures India of Reliable Energy Supplies Amid LNG Disruptions

Qatar, India’s largest supplier of liquefied natural gas (LNG), has assured New Delhi it will remain a “reliable” energy partner, following Oil Minister Hardeep Singh Puri’s visit to Doha after the US-Iran ceasefire, a senior government official said Friday.“Qatar is an important supplier of energy to India. He (Puri) had engagements with his Qatari counterpart… Qatar’s energy minister reaffirmed the country’s commitment to remain a reliable energy supplier and look forward to continuing and strengthening energy relations and cooperation with India,” said Randhir Jaiswal, spokesperson for the Ministry of External Affairs, at an inter-ministerial briefing on developments in West Asia.During a two-day visit to Doha on April 9-10, Puri met Saad Sherida Al-Kaabi, Qatar’s energy minister and chief executive officer of QatarEnergy.QatarEnergy, which provides about 40 per cent of India’s gas requirements, had halted LNG production amid attacks on its facilities, affecting supplies to New Delhi. Qatar also supplies crude oil and liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) to India.Despite geopolitical strains, India is supporting neighboring countries to meet energy needs, Jaiswal said. India supplied 38 million tonnes of petroleum products to Sri Lanka and signed a government-to-government agreement with Mauritius for oil and gas supply. External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar is currently visiting Mauritius.Also ReadIndia must rethink reliance on West Asia after current energy shock: ONGCBangladesh foreign minister's India visit enables a reset in relationspremiumHardeep Puri heads to Qatar as LNG supplies disrupt amid US-Iran warHardeep Puri heads to Qatar to secure LNG, LPG supply amid fuel crisisRussia offers sanctioned LNG to energy-hungry Asia at 40% discountPower availability in India remains stable despite LNG disruptions due to limited reliance on gas-based generation, said Piyush Singh, additional secretary at the Ministry of Power.Gas-based power accounts for about 1.4 per cent of India’s total capacity. Of roughly 20 gigawatts of gas-based capacity, 2.4 gigawatts of non-grid-connected capacity operated continuously during the period, while grid-connected plants received fuel as required, Singh said. LNG-based capacity has been affected, he added. “As a replacement, we have deferred our plant maintenance of about 10-gigawatt capacity for the next 3 months.”India typically requires about 8 gigawatts during the summer to balance load.Gas-based plants have recently been permitted to import LNG for power generation. In December, Torrent Power signed a deal with a Japanese power generation company for the supply of up to 0.27 million tonnes per year of LNG for 10 years starting in 2027.Induction cooktop shift may add up to 27 Gw to power demandAs the government promotes induction cooking amid a cooking gas shortage, additional power demand of 13 gigawatts to 27 gigawatts is expected under low and high adoption scenarios.“The transition towards induction cooking is expected to add an additional layer of demand at the distribution level, potentially influencing overall load patterns, particularly during morning and evening peak hours,” said Krushna Chandra Panigrahy, director general at the Bureau of Energy Efficiency.India expects to add 22,361 megawatts of capacity between April and June 2026, including 3.5 gigawatts of thermal power, 10 gigawatts of solar, 2.5 gigawatts of wind, 1.9 gigawatts of battery storage, 3,461 megawatts of hybrid projects, 750 megawatts of hydro and 250 megawatts of pumped hydro storage.