Sanwariya Gas examines LNG by truck model
You might remember it as Saumya DSM, a gas retailer with an unimpressive record at Mathura in Uttar Pradesh, where it failed to meet targets set by the PNGRB after five years of operations.
Now renamed Sanwariya Gas, the company is hoping to revive its fortunes by getting into the business of selling LNG transported by truck directly to customers in areas not yet connected by gas pipelines nor awarded by the PNGRB in any gas licensing round. "We’ve been transporting gas in cascades (cylinders mounted on the backs of trucks) to industrial customers in and around Mathura," a Sanwariya source tells us.
"That gave us the idea of transporting LNG in trucks, regasifying it and selling it to customers.” Sanwariya, he adds, will soon begin talking to Petronet-LNG to buy LNG from Dahej and is also talking to potential industrial customers at Jaipur in Rajasthan.
It believes trucking LNG to Jaipur from Gujarat is viable even if it buys LNG at $8/mmbtu, given the high cost of laying gas pipelines. "Jaipur is around 900-km from Gujarat,” we hear.
“The cost of laying a kilometre of steel pipeline in a city can be Rs2cr ($308,000) and securing permission to lay pipelines from concerned authorities can take years but a LNG hub can be set up in a few months."