Energy, Gas and India
There cannot be any doubt on the fact that the Energy cost across the world has been falling down. Petroleum prices have been falling down, we all know. More so the gas prices. Liquified Natural Gas (LNG) has been falling down in its price to less than $3 per MMBTU. At the same time Indian prices of LNG seem to hover around $11 and $12 per MMBTU which makes it not so very attractive. As our Prime Minister has remarked, energy dependent on LNG than on Oil would be cleaner, cheaper and better. There cannot be any doubts on this. However, price is a deciding and motivating factor. Our analysis of power generation using gas in lieu of coal does not reduce the cost of power production markedly. If the price of gas is closer to that of international prices, then we can find it attractive and better than power from coal based power. 'A push' from the PM would certainly be good. This would require the government to scale down its duty and tax structures and also discourage concessionai