Petronet LNG, the Indian state-owned terminals operator, has delayed the launch of expanded import capacity at the Dahej facility due to logistics challenges and security concerns following the flare-up in India-Pakistan relations.
Petronet LNG was initially expected to commission additional import capacity of 5 million tons per year at Dahej in March. The launch has now been pushed back to September, the company’s chief executive officer Akshay Kumar Singh said this week, as carried by Argus.
Petronet LNG is on track to raise the capacity at the Dahej import terminal to 22.5 million tons per year. The timing has been delayed also due to the security concerns after the cross-border attacks which nuclear powers India and Pakistan exchanged at the end of April and early May.
Indian companies are looking to raise LNG import capacity as the country’s natural gas demand is set to surge in the coming decades.
The latest Indian LNG import terminal, owned by state-owned Hindustan Petroleum Corporation Limited (HPCL), received its first cargo of the super-chilled fuel in January.
India plans to ramp up LNG imports and the use of natural gas as a fuel cleaner than coal and needed in many industrial processes.
Natural gas demand in India is set to surge by 60% by 2030, supported by upcoming global LNG supply wave, the International Energy Agency (IEA) said earlier this year.
India’s gas consumption is set to reach 103 billion cubic meters (bcm) annually by the end of the decade, the agency reckons.
“India’s gas market is entering a new phase of growth, supported by significant infrastructure development and clear policy direction,” IEA Director of Energy Markets and Security, Keisuke Sadamori, said in a statement.
“The prospect of higher gas demand in India coincides with an expected wave of new global LNG supply. However, it will require careful planning and market coordination to ensure supply security and to help gas to compete in a price-sensitive market,” Sadamori added.
By Tsvetana Paraskova for Oilprice.com
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