AsianOil: Petronet may consider fourth LNG import terminal in India
India’s Petronet LNG may consider building a fourth LNG import terminal in India in order to meet rising demand.
Petronet’s CEO, A K Singh, told the Press Trust of India last week that the company expects Indian gas demand to continue growing. He added that the company could look at developing a fourth regasification terminal in the country, but that these were only “preliminary thoughts”, with no further details to be provided at this stage.
Petronet operates a 17.5mn tonne per year LNG import facility at Dahej in Gujarat and another 5mn tpy terminal at Kochi in Kerala. It is also planning to develop a floating LNG (FLNG) import terminal at Gopalpur in Odisha in the next three years at a cost of INR16bn ($210mn).
Singh’s comments come as the Indian government targets raising the share of natural gas in the country’s energy mix to 15% by 2030 from 6.7% currently. Domestic gas production meets almost half of current consumption, and while efforts are underway to boost domestic output, with demand growing too, LNG imports are expected to have to rise to meet the remainder.
Petronet had previously explored the possibility of building an LNG terminal at Gangavaram in Andhra Pradesh but abandoned that plan in 2015-16 on the grounds that there was not enough demand in the region to justify it. That plan could now be revived, or Petronet could begin pursuing an altogether new project in a different region.
The company is also planning to increase the capacity of its Dahej LNG terminal to 22.5mn tpy in response to growing gas demand.