GAIL (India) has signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with Shell Energy India to explore opportunities across the energy value chain.

The MoU will explore prospects in import and handling of different hydrocarbons which are important chemical and petrochemical precursors, along with liquefied natural gas (LNG) for road transport, regasification of imported LNG and renewables.

Last month GAIL (India) and the Central Board of Direct Taxes (CBDT) entered into an advance pricing agreement (APA) for determining the transfer pricing margin payable on its long-term LNG sourcing contract from USA for five years.

GAIL (India) owns and operates a network of around ~14,830 km of natural gas pipelines spread across the length and breadth of country. It commands around 68% gas transmission market share and gas trading share of over 53%.

To reach a Net Zero emissions energy system by 2050, it needs to deploy cleaner energy technologies on a mass scale.

In the NZE scenario, nearly 90% of the generation mix comes from renewables by 2050, but this depends on regional grid connectivity
and the development and deployment of grid-scale electricity storage for managing solar intermittency.

Another feature of the scenario is the sheer scale of electricity infrastructure development: in the next 30 years, the power system will need to grow four-fold. India is targeting 5 million MT of green hydrogen annually by 2030.

India, the fourth largest LNG importer, will account for around 25% of global energy demand between 2020-2040 according to bp energy outlook and IEA estimates.