State gas utility GAIL India has bought liquefied natural gas (LNG) from Shell India at $11.7 per million British thermal unit (mBtu).
GAIL bought 50 million standard cubic metres of regassified-LNG from Shell to plug the gap in supplies resulting from the shutdown of Petronet LNG's Dahej terminal from January 6 to 12, company Director (Marketing) B C Tripathi said here.
Shell this week is importing LNG at its Hazira terminal in Gujarat, the first time since October, when naphtha prices fell lower than spot LNG prices, leading to most power and fertiliser plants using both shifting to the liquid fuel.
"GAIL has procured a spot cargo from Shell to facilitate an optimal level of production by our power and fertiliser customers," Tripathi said.
The company will supply the regassified-LNG from Shell to power and fertiliser units that have placed a demand on it during the Dahej shutdown period, at a $11.7 per mBtu ex-terminal price, he said. This price does not include pipeline transportation cost, sales tax and marketing margin.
Petronet is shutting down the Dahej terminal for a week for hooking up new facilities, which would double the terminal capacity to 10 million tonnes.
GAIL, which, along with Indian Oil, Bharat Petroleum and Oil and Natural Gas Corp, is founder promoter of Petronet, markets 60 per cent of the LNG imported at Dahej.
Tripathi said GAIL may buy the remaining 30 mscm of the cargo Shell is importing if the need arises.
Meanwhile, the price of R-LNG supplied by Petronet has risen by over 26 per cent to $6.3 per mBtu following increase in rates by the supplier in Qatar.
