India’s sixth LNG import facility will be a floating terminal with a 1.0 million mt/year capacity on its eastern coast, at the port city of Krishnapatnam in Andhra Pradesh.
The FLNG terminal, planned to be ready by 2022, is being built to meet the growing demand for gas in the eastern region of India, fuelled by rising urbanisation and industrialisation. According to the officials, the Bharat Gas Resources Ltd (BGRL) will be building the terminal, expected to cost between $21bn-$24bn. BGRL is a subsidiary of state-owned Bharat Petroleum Corp Ltd (BPCL), which will hold a 74% share in BGRL. Petronet LNG will hold the remaining 26% share. “We have plans to scale up the initial capacity to 3 million mt or 5 million mt later on,” BPCL chairman D Rajkumar was quoted as saying by media sources.
The proposed FLNG terminal at Krishnapatnam is likely to receive LNG supply from Mozambique as BGRL has a 1.0 million mt/year supply agreement with Mozambique LNG1 Co Pvt Ltd for 15 years.
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Meanwhile, India may also look to renegotiate prices of its long-term LNG import contracts at an “appropriate time” to help reflect falling rates of the spot market, Oil Minister Dharmendra Pradhan was quoted as saying at an event recently.
India plans to increase the share of natural gas in its overall energy portfolio to 15% by 2030, from the current 6.2%, with the minister adding that as much as $70bn investment is likely in the natural gas sector in the country.
India’s LNG import terminal capacity is expected to grow from 38.8mn tonnes per annum presently to 52.5mn tonnes in the next 3-4 years with new facilities coming up at Kakinada in Andhra Pradesh, Dhamra in Odisha, Jaigarh in Maharashtra and Chhara and Jafrabad terminals in Gujarat.
