India will connect its north-east gas grid with the national grid in the next two months, and plans to extend and integrate it with the grids of the four neighbours, two people aware of the development said. Plans to connect Sri Lanka and Myanmar are also in the works.

“The plan for gas grid interconnectivity is still in the works. If the plan takes a concrete shape, Myanmar, Bangladesh, Nepal and Bhutan would be connected with India’s national gas grid via the northeast gas grid,” one of the two people said on condition of anonymity.

Connecting the gas grids would broaden India’s energy relations with the neighbours and speed up energy transition in the region, as India leverages cross-border energy trade as part of its neighbourhood-first policy. India currently has bilateral connectivity with Nepal and Bangladesh to supply petro-products; and another multi-product pipeline is in the works. 

As early as 2005-06, India had floated the idea of LNG connectivity with Myanmar and Bangladesh; however, in 2013, China and Myanmar agreed on a gas deal, after which India dropped its plan. Now, along with the revival of the plans, India is also looking at a larger regional connectivity across the South Asian countries except Pakistan.

Harsh V. Pant, vice president, studies and foreign policy at Observer Research Foundation said: “Several concerns are being raised that South Asia is one of the least interconnected regions. In the past few years, India has taken up several initiatives to improve the connectivity as seen in the push for power grid connectivity with other South Asian countries. Gas grid connectivity across the region may be instrumental in bringing together the countries. Such an initiative serves India’s interests at multiple levels,” Pant said.

Developing the natural gas ecosystem gains significance as gas is considered a cleaner fuel compared to crude oil and coal, and policy makers see it as a transition fuel in the move towards renewable energy. The use of gas in mobility and electricity is expected to continue in the intermediate period amid the longer-term transition towards renewable energy.

Once the petroleum ministry finalizes the proposal, it would be taken up by the external affairs ministry, a second person said. Following that, the government will reach to the neighbouring countries.

Queries mailed to spokespersons of the petroleum and external affairs ministries remained unanswered.

Currently a gas pipeline network of around 23,500 km is under operation in India, and around 12,000 km pipeline is approved and under construction. Recently, Prime Minister Narendra Modi said India’s gas sector is expected to attract investments of $67 billion in the next 6-7 years.

India and the other South Asian countries are primarily LNG importers. The gas network would help India to supply gas, whether imported or domestic, to the neighbouring countries. Further, Myanmar can be a significant source of natural gas for India. As of 2021, Myanmar’s reserves of natural gas stood at 22.5 trillion cubic feet.

The plan comes in the backdrop of China’s attempt to co-opt countries into its ambitious One Belt One Road initiative. On its part, India has been supplying power to Bangladesh and Nepal, and buying electricity from Bhutan; it has also been a champion of South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (Saarc) electricity grid minus Pakistan to meet electricity demand in the region.

Riya Sinha, research associate, Centre for Social and Economic Progress, noted that given the strategic significance of such regional connectivity projects, India is mostly looking at developing the projects bilaterally and supporting the financing to the largest extent possible, without bringing in multilateral agencies.

On 10 February, The Hindu BusinessLine reported that industry executives pressed for a “regional clean energy agenda between South and Southeast Asian nations via interconnected gas and electricity grids” at an international meeting of energy regulators in Goa. Consultations among industry participants for such an interconnectivity have been held in the past.

Stressing that diplomatic talks and approval from the neighbours would be key, the first person mentioned above said: “Political consent of the concerned countries would be required.”

Indradhanush Gas Grid Ltd (IGGL), the developer and operator of the north-east gas grid, has already tied up with state-run GAIL India to connect the northeastern grid with GAIL’s Barauni-Guwahati Pipeline. On the progress of the northern grid, the first person said: “It is likely to be connected with the national grid in the next one and a half or two months.” IGGL is a joint venture of Indian Oil Corp. Ltd, ONGC, GAIL and Numaligarh Refinery Ltd.

According to data from the Global Energy Monitor, India and China are investing more than the rest of the world in developing gas pipelines. A Global Energy Monitor survey conducted at the end of 2022 showed that a total of 14,300 km were under construction in India, with an estimated cost of $20.7 billion.