By Mathew Carr

Dec. 4, 2020 — LONDON: As India seeks to erode its reliance on coal, exchange giant ICE is offering an LNG contract from next week that will help it cut the risk of energy diversification.

From Dec. 7, ICE will offer financially-settled futures based on the Platts West India Marker (WIM) Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG) price assessment.

The WIM LNG (Platts) futures, as a contract focused on South Asia, will develop “natural gas markets east of Suez and will complement the already established the Japan Korea Marker (JKM) LNG contract, which has become a leading natural gas benchmark for North East Asia,” ICE said in a statement.

India established a new taskforce to coordinate policies to help meet its emissions target under the 2015 Paris Agreement, as well as handle international and domestic carbon market activities for the world’s third-biggest emitter, Carbon Pulse reported Thursday.

The country is one of the fastest growing economies in the world. With a population of 1.4 billion, making energy secure and affordable will underpin economic production.