The first ever India-Russia webinar on the use of natural gas as motor fuel was organized under the aegis of the Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Gas of India and the Ministry of Energy of the Russian Federation. A Memorandum of Understanding between both countries for cooperation on the use of natural gas for transportation was signed in presence of Prime Minister of India Narendra Modi and President of Russian Federation Vladimir Putin.
Anton Inyutsyn, the Russian Deputy Minister expressed, that he was positive that the exchange of information in this webinar would be beneficial for both countries and would lead to joint activities and mutual investments.
Venkatesh Varma, Ambassador of India to the Russian Federation stressed on the importance of continuous collaboration between the two nations. He assured that this embassy would extend all possible support for making this partnership in the energy sector more robust.
KPMG India and PWC India set the initial tone for the webinar by their presentations on CNG and LNG usage, policies and future prospects in the Indian markets. Indian speakers highlighted the growth potential of natural gas as a low-carbon vehicle fuel. India is likely to have 120,000 LNG vehicles by 2030. By then, road transport is forecast to account for 1.2-3 MMTPA LNG demand which is likely to go up to 4.5 MMTPA by 2035. In addition, there is a huge market potential in the CNG sector in India with expected investment of USD 3-4 billion in CNG equipment, USD 50-60 billion through CNG vehicles and USD 1-1.5 billion via service market till 2030.
On behalf of Russia, there were presentations by Rostec, Kamaz Group and the Natural Gas Vehicles Association speaking on the prospect of partnership for CNG and LNG equipment manufacturing for the transport sector. Speaker from Rostec spoke at length about the technological and equipment aspects of LNG production and the supply chain. Speaker from Kamaz gave a comprehensive overview of the various LNG vehicles designed by the company and ready for use in Indian market.
The webinar is expected to act as a catalyst for coming up with practical measures for initiating projects on pilot basis in both countries and eventually to scale up to the national levels and for mutual investments.
