Japan Invests Big In LNG Despite Climate-Friendly Promises
Japan is one of the world’s biggest public financiers of gas and oil production, despite a pledge to halt all such funding for fossil fuel at the G7 summit in 2022. From 2013 to 2024, Japanese public financial institutions provided $93 billion (€82 billion) worth of investments for oil and gas projects, according to a report from the South Korea-based Solutions for Our Climate (SFOC). Overseas liquefied natural gas (LNG) development projects amounted to $56 billion worth of this financing. In the same period, the report estimates $24.5 billion in funding was provided for clean energy projects. “Japan’s international influence in energy financing, and specifically fossil fuel financing, is enormous,” Walter James, a private consultant focusing on Japan’s climate and energy policies, told DW “It’s really across the fossil fuel supply chain … all the way from exploration, production, transportation to actual use and power plants.” In what the Institute for Energy Economics and Financial Analysis (IEEFA), a US-based research center, calls the “Japanese model” of LNG investment, decades of policy development by Japan to “encourage direct overseas investment in LNG export projects,” have turned Japan into the main driver of LNG development in the Asia Pacific.
THINK Gas Expands LNG Footprint with strategic launch of 6 New Dispensing Stations accelerating India’s green transition
THINK Gas, India’s leading City Gas Distribution (CGD) company, is accelerating country’s transition towards low-emission transport for long-haul heavy-duty truck mobility with the strategic rollout of 3 (three) new LNG filling hubs/points after the successful operation of its flagship LNG station at Bagroda, Bhopal. As a merged CGD entity of AG&P Pratham and THINK Gas, now operating under the THINK Gas brand, the 3 new LNG fuelling hubs/points, strategically located to serve long-haul mobility, will be in Anantapur, Nellore (in Andhra Pradesh), and Vallam (in Tamil Nadu’s Kanchipuram District), and are expected to be operational by September’ 2025. In addition, 3 more LNG fuelling hubs/points will become operational by December 2025, reinforcing the company’s focus on long-haul clean mobility infrastructure.” THINK Gas is integrating the new LNG hubs with its well-established LCNG Stations (Liquefied to Compressed Natural Gas), allowing for seamless distribution, enhanced infrastructure utilisation, and efficient service delivery to fleet operators and logistics providers.
India shrinks its gas fleet as idle plants become unusable
India has phased out about five gigawatts of gas-fired power capacity that became inoperable after being left idle for years, according to people familiar with the matter. Some of the plants had sold off machinery, while others had become so rusty they were no longer fit to use, the people said. They asked not to be named as they are not authorized to speak to the media. India’s gas power industry has struggled for years, largely thanks to high prices which made plants uncompetitive, complicating the government’s goal to more than double the share of the fuel in the energy mix by 2030. In the year through March, India’s gas-fired generators ran at an average 14.5% of their capacity. About 7 gigawatts of projects in the southern region clocked a utilization rate of below 4%. The power ministry didn’t immediately respond to an emailed request for comment. The nation’s gas fleet totaled 20.1 gigawatts in April, compared with 25.2 a month earlier, data from the power ministry’s Central Electricity Authority show. Lower gas power capacity has raised other challenges for India, including making it harder to meet summer electricity requirements. This is especially true during warm evenings, when nearly 107 gigawatts of solar capacity goes off grid and demand soars as air-conditioners remain switched on. The highest number of closures were recorded in the state of Andhra Pradesh, where a string of gas power projects had been counting on fuel supplies from Reliance Industries Ltd.’s KG D6 field in the Bay of Bengal. The company had expected to produce 80 million cubic meters a day of gas from the site, but production peaked at 55.9 million cubic meters a day in the fiscal year 2011, and began to slide thereafter. It plunged to a low of 0.9 million cubic meters in 2019. Output has recovered since but is still at half of peak levels.
LNG to drive INOX India’s growth in FY26
Liquefied natural gas (LNG) is set to be the key growth driver for INOX India in FY26, backed by rising global adoption and a strong order book. Speaking to CNBC-TV18, Siddharth Jain, Promoter and Non-Executive Director of INOX India, said, “We are seeing greater adoption of that fuel not only in India but across the world, across different segments. We’re very excited about the next couple of years in this vertical.” The company reported a strong Q4FY25, which saw its highest-ever revenue and EBITDA. Revenue rose 33.6% year-on-year, while EBITDA surged 53.4%. For the full year, the company reported moderate growth of 15-20% in topline, EBITDA and PAT. Jain said all three of INOX India’s business verticals — industrial gas LNG, cryo-scientific, and beverage containers — are showing strong growth momentum. The company is also seeing the benefits of a strategy shift made during its IPO, where it chose to focus more on export-oriented orders. “Our strategy, which we laid out over two years ago during the IPO — focusing more on export jobs — has also played out,” he said
Regulator approval must for new LNG import terminal
The oil regulator has made it mandatory for companies planning to establish new liquefied natural gas (LNG) import terminals or expand existing ones to obtain prior approval, but dropped the requirement to reserve a portion of the terminal capacity for third-party access. The Petroleum and Natural Gas Regulatory Board (PNGRB) has notified Registration for Establishing and Operating Liquefied Natural Gas Terminals Regulations, 2025. “These regulations lay down a robust framework focused on registration and oversight of LNG terminals, (and) promotion of competition among entities and prevention of infructuous investments,” the regulator said, adding that the rules are a step in alignment with India’s vision of increasing the share of natural gas to 15& in the energy mix by 2030. The norms also seek to ensure equitable and adequate natural gas availability across the country, protection of consumer interests through improved access and supply reliability, and facilitate infrastructure availability for evacuation of regasified LNG through pipelines. An entity wanting to build an LNG terminal will have to inform PNGRB before taking the final investment decision (FID). The same will have to be done for expanding the capacity of an existing LNG terminal.
Goldman Raises Oil Demand Outlook
Goldman Sachs analysts have revised their outlook for global oil demand upwards, now expecting growth of 600,000 barrels daily this year and 400,000 barrels daily in 2026. The bank, however, maintained its oil price forecast at $60 per barrel of Brent crude and $56 per barrel of West Texas Intermediate for this year, Reuters reported, citing a new note. Brent crude was trading at over $65 per barrel at the time of writing, and WTI was trading at over $62. Goldman’s analysts expect the benchmarks to fall further next year, to $56 for Brent crude and $52 for WTI. A big reason for the bearish outlook is the nuclear deal between the U.S. and Iran that recently became a more distinct possibility than it was until now. Last Thursday, President Trump the two sides were really close to sealing such a deal. The news dealt a blow to oil prices. Later updates, however, tamed any optimism as they revealed persistent differences between the two sides on what conditions they would accept. The U.S. side insists on Iran committing to stop any uranium enrichment activities. The Iranian side considers its uranium-enrichment activities non-negotiable. However, the prospect of a shorter rather than longer tariff war has improved the outlook for global growth, which could offset any bearish supply effect stemming from a U.S.-Iran nuclear deal by improving demand for crude, per Goldman. This was the basis for their upward revision of demand for the second half of the year, or, as they put it, “Incorporating lower tariffs and higher GDP.” On the other hand, if the tariff war drags on and comes to affect global economic growth in the physical world rather than the realm of forecast, the investment bank expects Brent could drop as far as $40 per barrel in late 2026. For that to happen, OPEC+ must also bring back all the barrels it cut from its combined supply back in 2022, Goldman analysts noted.
Trump Administration turns to Asia for Alaska LNG project
A curious ballet around the Alaska LNG Project has been unfolding on the international stage with some of America’s allies in Asia. It’s raising questions about whether the pipeline will at last find the funding that it needs after so much song and dance. It is a story some four decades long. The difference now, though, is that President Donald Trump is showing potential investors abroad both the carrot and the stick, i.e., the threat of tariffs. Early into his administration, the president began to pressure Asian countries into exploring Alaska’s ample energy reserves. Whether the approach will bear fruit is yet to be determined. Last week, the Ministry of Energy of Thailand asked two major energy companies, Ego and PTT, to engage the United States in discussions about LNG development in Alaska. The issue of commitment, or a lack thereof, remains. South Korea’s Industry Minister Ahn Duk-geun has merely agreed to establish a “working-level group” to discuss the project, which has spooked investors for nearly as long as Alaska has been part of the Union. However, all that could change in June, when the Trump administration’s National Energy Dominance Council will hold a summit in Anchorage with the LNG project as the centerpiece. Delegations from both Japan and Korea will be present. The main reservations of potential Asian partners with regard to a long-term commitment will likely center on the pipeline’s big price tag and its sustainability. Japan recently reaffirmed its goal of aggressively expanding its nuclear power capabilities by 2030. “We can use renewable power to the maximum, and we will restart nuclear power, the safe one, as much as possible,” Japanese Industry Minister Yoji Muto told reporters late last year. South Korea has likewise made huge investments in nuclear power with a $100 million financial pledge in February to businesses in the sector. Just this week, Taiwan announced that it would restart its atomic plants in a major energy policy shift that indicates growing concerns over geopolitical instability. A long-term commitment to developing and importing Alaskan LNG might not make a great deal of sense to countries that plan on leaning into nuclear power in the near future. So the question is whether the Trump administration thinks it can convince them that there is more to gain than lose from buying American.
Oil regulator mandates LNG terminal registration, scraps carrier rule
The oil regulator has made it mandatory for companies planning to establish new liquefied natural gas (LNG) import terminals or expand existing ones to obtain prior approval, but dropped the requirement to reserve a portion of the terminal capacity for third-party access. The Petroleum and Natural Gas Regulatory Board (PNGRB) has notified Registration for Establishing and Operating Liquefied Natural Gas Terminals Regulations, 2025. “These regulations lay down a robust framework focused on registration and oversight of LNG terminals, (and) promotion of competition among entities and prevention of infructuous investments,” the regulator said, adding that the rules are a step in alignment with India’s vision of increasing the share of natural gas to 15 per cent in the energy mix by 2030. The norms also seek to ensure equitable and adequate natural gas availability across the country, protection of consumer interests through improved access and supply reliability, and facilitate infrastructure availability for evacuation of regasified LNG through pipelines. An entity wanting to build an LNG terminal will have to inform PNGRB before taking the final investment decision (FID). The same will have to be done for expanding the capacity of an existing LNG terminal. The PNGRB nod in both cases will hinge on “promoting competition among entities, avoiding infructuous investment, maintaining or increasing supplies or securing equitable distribution or ensuring adequate availability of natural gas throughout the country, protecting customer interest and availability of gas evacuation facility from the terminal,” according to the rules. The rules, however, do not contain the requirement of new LNG import facilities reserving a fifth of the capacity for third-party access on a common carrier principle.
May petrol sales in fast lane as summer travel peaks, diesel & ATF go off the boil, LPG on fire
Preliminary sales figures from state-owned fuel retailers, made available on May 16, showed that petrol usage surged by approximately 10 per cent in the first half of May as travel during the summer season caused a spike in demand. Between May 1 and May 15, petrol consumption escalated to 1.5 million tonnes, up from 1.37 million tonnes during the same timeframe last year, news agency PTI reported. This marks a 10.5 per cent increase over the 1.36 million tonnes consumed during the first half of May 2023 and is nearly 46 per cent higher than the consumption levels observed in the affected first two weeks of May 2021. Meanwhile, diesel sales experienced a modest growth of 2 per cent, reaching 3.36 million tonnes, as reported by the three major state-owned fuel retailers that control around 90 per cent of the market. Diesel’s demand has shown signs of recovery following a rebound since last month. Diesel, essential for transportation and the rural agricultural economy, recorded only a 2 per cent increase in demand during the fiscal year that concluded on March 31, 2025. In April, diesel consumption climbed to 8.23 million tonnes, representing nearly a 4 per cent rise from the previous year’s figures. For the period of May 1-15, diesel sales were 2 per cent higher compared to the 3.29 million tonnes consumed during the same period last year. Additionally, this represents a 1.3 per cent increase over the first half of May 2023, and a significant 16 per cent rise from the Covid-affected first fortnight of May 2021. Diesel sales also increased by 5.2 per cent when compared to the 3.19 million tonnes consumed in the first half of April 2025. As summer sets in, there is typically an uptick in rural demand for irrigation and air conditioning in urban areas. Industry experts noted that diesel had been experiencing a slowdown in recent months, prompting discussions about its future trajectory. The growth seen since April has been attributed to a rise in consumption for election campaigning that took place the previous year. In terms of aviation fuel, the growth in jet fuel (ATF) consumption slowed to 1.1 per cent, totaling 327,900 tonnes during the May 1-15 period. This deceleration can be traced back to flight restrictions imposed in certain regions of northern and western India due to ongoing tensions with Pakistan, which negatively impacted demand. However, ATF sales were still 8.6 per cent higher compared to the same period in May 2023 and 11 per cent more than the first half of May 2021. In comparison to the previous month, jet fuel consumption saw a decrease of 5.8 per cent from the 348,100 tonnes recorded during April 1-15. LPG (liquefied petroleum gas) consumption continued its robust growth, increasing by 10.4 per cent to reach 1.34 million tonnes in the first fortnight of May, largely fueled by Ujjwala connections. Since 2019, domestic cooking gas consumption has effectively increased by volumes equivalent to nearly five months. Cooking gas sales during this period were 10 percent higher than the 1.22 million tonnes consumed during May 1-15, 2023, and 33 per cent greater than the 1.01 million tonnes recorded in the first half of May 2021. Additionally, LPG sales rose by 7.3 per cent compared to the 1.25 million tonnes consumed in the first half of April.
Kuwait to Invest $50 Billion to Boost Oil Production Capacity
Kuwait, one of the top OPEC producers in the Middle East, plans to invest as much as $50 billion to raise its oil production capacity to above 3 million barrels per day (bpd) over the next five years, Kuwait Petroleum Corporation’s deputy chairman and CEO, Shaikh Nawaf Al-Sabah, has said. Kuwait is “planning to invest $9 to $10 billion annually in the next five years” to increase oil production capacity, Arabian Gulf Business Insight (AGBI) quoted Al-Sabah as saying. Kuwait’s crude oil production averaged 2.415 million bpd in April, according to secondary sources in OPEC’s latest Monthly Oil Market Report (MOMR) published earlier this week. Kuwait, a founding member of OPEC, is the cartel’s fifth-largest producer, behind Saudi Arabia, Iraq, Iran, and the United Arab Emirates (UAE). The $50 billion investment by the end of the decade is part of a longer-term plan for Kuwait to boost its oil production capacity to almost 4 million bpd by 2040, Al-Sabah said. The 2040 strategy of Kuwait’s state-owned corporation envisages the OPEC producer to boost its sustainable crude oil production capacity to 4 million bpd, including capacity in the so-called Partitioned Neutral Zone (PNZ), established between Saudi Arabia and Kuwait in 1922 to settle a territorial dispute. The strategy also targets Kuwait to achieve sustainable non-associated gas production in Kuwait, including the Neutral Zone, of up to 2.0 BSCFD by 2040. Last year, Kuwait announced the discovery of a significant amount of oil and gas in the Al-Noukhitha offshore field, estimated at around 3.2 billion barrels of oil equivalent. The discovery includes 2.1 billion barrels of light oil and 5.1 trillion standard cubic feet of natural gas. Earlier this year, Kuwait approved a financing and liquidity law that will allow it to return to the debt market after eight years, with borrowing expected to fund projects to diversify its dependence on oil revenues. While the other OPEC Gulf heavyweights, Saudi Arabia and UAE, are investing – and borrowing to invest – in major infrastructure, AI, and technology projects, Kuwait has been lagging behind. Over the past few years, Kuwait has been more vulnerable to oil price slumps than its fellow Gulf producers as it hasn’t been able to borrow since 2017.