GAIL (India) Limited, the owner’s engineer of the LNG regas block of RGPPL, today successfully commissioned the Dabhol LNG terminal located at Ratnagiri, Maharashtra around 340 km south of Mumbai. BC Tripathi, chairman and managing director, GAIL, announced the development while interacting with the media in Mumbai and Delhi.
The Dabhol LNG terminal would serve as a gateway for entry of natural gas to the southern and western parts of the country. The terminal is operated by RGPPL, a joint venture of GAIL (India) Limited and NTPC as major shareholders and remaining equity being held by financial institutions and MSEB.
GAIL, the commercial operator of the terminal, had arranged commissioning cargo for the terminal in December 2012.
The commissioning of the Dhabol regas terminal provides access to natural gas supply to the southern and western states - Maharashtra, Goa, Karnataka and Tamil Nadu. GAIL is also at an advanced stage of commissioning the 1,400-km Dhabol-Bengaluru pipeline system.
Power, Fertilisers and small industries shall benefit from this regas terminal in terms of savings vis-a-vis alternate higher priced fuels such as naphtha, fuel oil, etc. The transport and the household segments shall also get the opportunity to utilise the clean fuel at cities and towns en route the pipeline corridor.
GAIL shall endeavor to maximise the capacity utilisation of the terminal regas and storage facilities by leveraging the line-pack of over 10,000 km of cross country pipeline network. While emphasising the focus to be on completion of the break water facility, Tripathi also stated that in a phased manner the capacity of the terminal shall be expanded to 7.5 mmtpa and then to 10 mmtpa in the next 2-3 years. He said GAIL is also pursuing LNG terminal/FSRU opportunities along the eastern coast of the country.
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GAIL, as a commercial operator of the Dabhol terminal, has underwritten the regas capacity of the terminal for 25 years for lending support to the project. In the immediate future, the regas from the terminal will cater to the demand of the customers in Maharashtra through GAIL’s Dabhol-Panvel pipeline connected to Maharashtra regional pipeline network.
The commissioning of the Dabhol terminal along with GAIL’s cross country gas pipeline network is poised to integrate the entire gas market of India from Bhatinda/Nangal in North to Kochi in South spanning a gas grid over 3,400 km.
Currently, Dahej and Hazira are the only operating LNG terminals catering to the LNG demand in the country. Given the decline of domestic gas production, the current regas capacities are operating at maximum rate. Commissioning of Dabhol terminal at this crucial juncture shall facilitate higher volumes of LNG imports for securing energy for the country. At present, the power block of the RGPPL has been operating on domestic gas allocated to the unit. The need of the time is to maximise utilisation of the new capacities at Dhabol and Kochi as well as the new pipelines in this south western corridor.