India prepares launch of gas hub

If all goes to plan, by the end of this year India should have established a gas trading hub

The establishment of a hub is an attempt to meet operators' demands for the adoption of a market-based gas-pricing regime. But India faces challenges in making the dream a reality, amid concerns over third-party access and competition. The gas-hub plan ties in with prime minister Narendra Modi's efforts to boost the share of natural gas in India's energy mix to 15% by 2030, from just over 6% now. More gas is reaching India from a variety of sources. June saw the first cargo of Russian liquefied natural gas, from Gazprom, reach its shores, just three months after India received its first US LNG cargo. Domestic supply is also increasing. More than 60m cubic metres a day of domestic gas product