BG believes LNG too expensive for Indian market
British Gas continues to downplay plans to import LNG to India.
In his speech during the Petrotech-2005 trade fair in Delhi, BG chief executive Frank Chapman deftly avoided making any commitments on LNG imports by BG to India. Developing LNG in India is not without its challenges, Chapman said.
Most of the gas in India is still supplied under the heavily subsidised administered pricing mechanism which makes the market-based price of LNG appear very expensive. He said it is important for India to phase out subsidies to ensure that all gas is market related.
India has become a case study for what BG does - it develops markets and finds competitive supplies to meet demand, said Chapman. Asked whether BG would import LNG to India, Chapman said: This will happen in a perfectly free market where the prices will be determined by the market.
Chapman gave a non-committal answer about the companys plans for Pipavav.
