(ET)
Natural gas demand has risen by a third from its recent lows as factory activity expands and more gas-driven vehicles fill the roads following the easing of lockdown curbs, according to an executive at GAIL, the country’s largest marketer and transporter of gas. Natural gas sales by GAIL has risen to 74 million metric standard cubic meters a day (mmscmd) from 56 mmscmd in the last week of March when the nationwide lockdown started, severely restricting mobility and shutting most industries. The volumes are still much lower than the 86 mmscmd GAIL supplied before the lockdown began.
Besides its own gas, GAIL also transmits about 24 mmscmd of gas marketed by other companies through its pipeline network. This volume had dropped to about 8 mmscmd at the beginning of lockdown but has now risen to about 12 mmscmd, signaling refiners and other gas players are also witnessing a consumption recovery. Rising demand could act as a signal for ONGC, which had to shut some wells as demand weakened during the lockdown, to raise local output and for other gas players to increase import.
