IEW 2026 INTERVIEW: India’s 2026 LNG imports set to grow nearly 10% YOY: IGX CEO

India's imports of LNG will likely grow about 10% year over year in 2026, reflecting expanding city gas distribution networks, an increased potential of a gas-to-power switch and expectations of softening LNG prices, Managing Director and CEO of the Indian Gas Exchange Rajesh Kumar Mediratta said in an interview.

"Expanding CGD networks will see incremental demand growth being met through LNG imports," Mediratta told Platts, part of S&P Global Energy, during the India Energy Week in Goa.

According to him, the CGD segment grew about 8% year over year in 2025 and is expected to continue to grow steadily this year.

"LNG stays key to supporting evening peak power demand," Mediratta said.

"While an LNG price of around $6-$7/MMBtu may be a desirable economic threshold at which significant utilisation of gas-based power would occur, an LNG price of $9-$10/MMBtu is reasonable for large-scale utilization of gas for evening peak power demand," Mediratta said.

Platts assessed the JKM -- the benchmark price for cargo delivered to Northeast Asia -- for March at $10.925/MMBtu on Feb. 2, down $1.175/MMBtu, or 9.71%, from the previous day. The LNG West India Marker, or WIM, for March was assessed at $10.750/MMBtu on Feb. 2, at a discount of 17.5 cents/MMBtu to the March JKM assessment.

In terms of LNG trucking, India is still way behind China. However, it offers good growth potential, he said.

How fast that switching happens will depend on the availability of dispensing infrastructure, he said.

Meanwhile, domestic gas production is expected to remain steady in 2026. Thus, LNG terminals and pipeline infrastructure will be better utilised, according to Mediratta.

Other factors contributing to optimistic demand include a growing trunk pipeline network and integration of regional grids, including those in the Northeast, South, and East, with the main grid, Mediratta said.

According to a statement by the government's Press Information Bureau on Jan. 27, natural gas pipelines exceed 25,400 km, enabling near-100% CGD geographical coverage nationwide.

Mediratta also hailed the recent upstream sector reforms, including the Oilfield (Regulation and Development) Amendment Act, 2025, which is set to simplify procedures, enabling integrated energy development, and strengthen investor confidence.

The Petroleum and Natural Gas Rules, 2025, also provide a modern, transparent regulatory framework to boost the exploration and production of oil and natural gas, he said.

In addition, the PNGRB Draft Access Code (DAC) 2025 proposes changes to key provisions governing how companies obtain access to pipelines, among other steps, and is also positive, Mediratta said.

However, Mediratta remained less optimistic about India achieving its 2030 natural gas share goal.

"It looks difficult to achieve a 15% share of energy mix through gas," Mediratta said, adding that according to some estimates, the projected demand growth will be 60% to 80% by 2030, equivalent to 108-130 Bcm," he said.

"Such estimates only lead to an increased share of gas in the energy mix to say, 8%-9%," he said.

IGX's growth plans

Indian Gas Exchange (IGX) is actively expanding its contract offerings, Mediratta said.

"Besides the three-month and six-month contracts, [which] we launched last year, we are going for one and two-year contracts also," Mediratta said.

"We are also intending to provide a platform for booking of regas capacity at LNG terminals such that the LNG terminal operators and capacity holders will both have an option to offer their capacity," Mediratta said, pointing to the IGX HPCL MOU signed on the sidelines of the IEW 2026.

Under the agreement, IGX will develop a digital, market-driven platform to facilitate transparent booking of regasification services at the 5 million mt/year Chhara LNG terminal operated by HPCL. HPCL will offer its storage and capacities for booking in pre-specified quantities and durations through the platform.

"IGX is also working on LNG trading besides current offerings relating to regasified LNG, domestically produced gas, and trucked LNG," Mediratta said.

"For that, we need to seek approval from our regulator, the PNGRB," he said.

IGX also wants to foray into the trading of Compressed Biogas (CBG) certificates. However, he added, it is awaiting clarity on a basic framework before doing so.

"A certificate inherently would not have a price tag. So, it would have to be discovered, and we would be the best platform," Mediratta said.

IGX aims to venture into both LNG trading and CBG certificates trading by the financial year ending March 31, 2027, he added.

According to an IGX statement on Jan. 9, it traded 58.2 million MMBtu in the nine months ended Dec. 31, a year-over-year increase of 46%.