APAC Gaia Webinar: LNG in the Energy Transition
To register for the APAC SPE Gaia Talk follow this link
Register
A critical bridge, a strategic risk — or both?
Liquefied natural gas (LNG) occupies a complex position in the global energy transition: it can support energy security, provide dispatchable flexibility and supply essential industrial feedstocks, yet it also carries lifecycle emissions, price exposure and the risk of long-lived fossil-fuel infrastructure.
The presentation will review the expansion and concentration of global LNG trade, the major exporting and importing markets, and the outlook for substantial new liquefaction capacity through 2035. Particular attention is given to Asia’s demand, including India’s use of LNG in fertiliser, industry, refining, city gas and power. It will also examine how shipping availability, terminal constraints, maritime chokepoints, sanctions and Middle East instability affect deliverability and delivered prices. India’s spot LNG price movements from 2020 to 2026 illustrate how geopolitical shocks can transmit rapidly into affordability and industrial competitiveness.
The climate assessment considers emissions across production, processing, liquefaction, shipping and regasification, emphasizing that methane leakage and liquefaction energy are decisive variables. While gas can reduce emissions when it displaces coal, this advantage is conditional on measured and controlled methane emissions and must be weighed against increasingly competitive renewables, storage, efficiency and electrification. LNG’s strongest power-sector role is therefore often flexibility and reliability rather than baseload generation.
The central conclusion is that LNG is a conditional transition instrument, not a transition destination. Sound policy and investment require asset- and cargo-specific emissions data, credible methane abatement, resilient and diversified supply chains, flexible contracts, and stress-testing against lower demand, carbon costs and changing technology.
The Speaker
Arun Kumar is an energy and infrastructure executive with more than 35 years of international experience across India, the Middle East, Africa and Europe. His experience spans oil and gas, LNG and gas infrastructure, renewable energy and the energy transition, with expertise in project development, investment evaluation, financing, strategic partnerships and complex negotiations. He has helped advance major energy projects and transactions, with project financing and investments exceeding USD 1.5 billion. He is Partner/CEO, Axperia Ventures (2015–present), advising on strategy, investment, internationalization and growth in clean energy and energy transition projects.
B.E. Mechanical Engineering, BITS Pilani; MBA, University of Delhi; Certified Petroleum Manager, UPES.