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Petronet LNG Ltd will commission its 5 million tonnes per annum (MTPA) liquefied natural gas terminal at Kochi this Independence Day, AK Balyan, managing director and chief executive officer of Petronet LNG said.
"Cargo from Qatar's RasGas is expected on Aug 10 and the terminal is expected to start commercial operations on Aug 15," said, Balyan at an energy conference here. Earlier deadline to commission to terminal was this June.
Petronet at present imports 7.5 million tonnes of LNG annually from RasGas and is in discussions to import more after it expands its Dahej LNG terminal in Gujarat.
Petronet is currently increasing Dahej's capacity from 10 MTPA to 15 MTPA, and expects the expansion to be completed by December 2015.
"Looking at the growing demand for gas, we plan to double the capacity of Dahej terminal to 20 million tonnes per annum," added Balyan.
Petronet is also planning to set up a third LNG terminal at Gangavaram in Andhra Pradesh, with five MTPA capacity. Balyan said the company is in discussions with concerned ministries to seek clearances which are expected to come by September, after which it will begin work on construction.
Petronet, Balyan added, is still in discussions with GSPC to pick up 26% stake in its five MTPA LNG terminal in Gujarat. While GSPC would hold 50% stake in the project, Adani Group would have the other 25%.
Petronet, in addition to its existing contract with RasGas for 7.5 MTPA LNG, has also signed a long-term contract with Australia's Exxon Mobil for supply of around 1.44 MTPA of LNG from its Gorgon project to meet the requirement for the Kochi terminal.
On re-negotiation of the Gorgon deal, Balyan said, Petronet has received a letter form Gail but the same needs to be examined.
"We need to look at the letter carefully. It needs to be examined in the light of the contractual terms. If you start re-opening contracts, every contract will be re-opened at some point in time. But what are the contractual terms, one needs to look into," Balyan added.
State-owned gas utility GAIL India has reportedly sought renegotiation of the Gorgon deal, considered India’s most expensive LNG import deal, as it feels gas from Australia’s Gorgon project will find few takers.
Petronet LNG Ltd, had in August 2009 signed a 20-year deal to buy 1.44 million tonnes per annum of LNG at a price equivalent to 14.5% of ruling oil rates.
This translates into $14.5 per million British thermal unit price at $100 per barrel oil price. After adding shipping cost, 5% import duty and the cost of converting liquid gas back into its gaseous state, the Australian gas will cost close to $18 at Kochi port.
