Framing policies on different forms of natural gas.
Natural gas lost in policy smog
(Courtesy: The Economic Times, December 08, 2011, Delhi Edition)
"Whats in a name? That at which we call a rose by any other name would smell as sweet," Juliet Capulet asked Romeo Montague in William Shakespeare's lyrical tale, Romeo and Juliet. A similar question is relevant in India's natural gas industry where the government has designed distinct policies based on names given to natural gas.
The policies framed for various forms of natural gas coal-bed methane (CBM),shale gas, domestic natural gas, liquefied natural gas (LNG) or associated gas- contradict each other, often requiring the same operator to wear a different hat for a different form of natural gas. But herein lies the irony: the learning from one area is not applied to another. Instead, the government, it would appear, is ready to commit the same mistakes all over again as it goes about framing policies on different forms of natural gas.
