Regional Geopolitics:Impact on India's Pipeline Policy

The growing demand for energy and the rising environmental concerns due to the excessive use of fossil fuels like coal and oil in India have turned natural gas into a preferred fuel for India's energy policy makers. At present, natural gas forms only a small part of India's energy mix. With mounting international pressure to reduce emissions, a majority of energy consuming sectors will have to opt for this environmentally cleaner form of energy, which will lead to increase in its demand manifold. India does have enough reserves of natural gas to support this growing demand. Hence it had been planning to import natural gas through overland pipelines from countries like Turkmenistan, Iran and Myanmar. These nations are rich in natural gas reserves and their close geographic location to India provides ideal scenario for the energy trade. But given to the regional geopolitics, especially between India and its immediate neighbours, all these proposed pipelines have failed to succeed so far. This research paper analyses India's pipeline policy and the impact of regional geopolitics on them.