Natural gas
US benchmark, Indian domestic ceiling, and the heat-parity crude-to-gas ratio. Global LNG (JKM) is paywalled and will be proxied via the Henry-Hub-plus-premium heuristic until a free source lands.
as of 20 Apr 2026
Henry Hub
$2.81/ MMBtu
US benchmark, daily spot
Indian APM
$6.50/ MMBtu
Kirit Parikh ceiling · H2 FY25-26
HPHT / deepwater
$7.93/ MMBtu
April-Sept 2026 ceiling
Gas vs crude, heat-parity
One barrel of crude equals roughly 5.8 MMBtu of heat energy. At today's levels Henry Hub ($2.81) translates to $16.30 / bbl-equivalent, versus Brent $113.25. The ratio is 0.14 — gas is meaningfully cheap vs crude, historically favours gas-fed power and petchem.
India context
Indian domestic gas pricing follows the 2023 Kirit Parikh reform: a floor of $4.00/MMBtu and a ceiling of $6.50/MMBtu for APM (administered-price) gas, notified half-yearly at 10% of the Indian crude basket. Deepwater and high-pressure high-temperature fields get a separate, higher ceiling — $7.93/MMBtu for the current April-September 2026 band.
The APM price feeds GAIL's transmission economics, ONGC's gas monetisation, and the CGD (city gas distribution) margin stack. A lower APM price is good for industrial and CNG customers, hard on upstream producer earnings.