Back from the dead - Essar Salaya LNG plan
Fourteen years after it first received clearance, Essar has revived an old plan to construct a 6m t/y land-based LNG terminal at Salaya in Gujarat.
On April 25 (2024), the Gujarat Pollution Control Board (GPCB) has scheduled a public hearing to clear the LNG project under Essar's proposed Rs9785cr ($1.2bn) Salaya port expansion plan. Crucial for securing fresh environmental clearance, the hearing will take place at the Essar Bulk Terminal near Mota Mandha village in Devbhumi Dwarka district.
"Seven new berths are planned under the (port) expansion," says an Essar source. "One will be a 350-metre LNG berth."
A floating storage unit (FSU) is also planned. Essar first received EC for the port expansion on August 17 (2009).
But our source adds that the group faced turmoil amid soaring debts, leading it to exit the Vadinar refinery in 2018 and the Hazira steel mill in 2019. Despite this, Essar doesn't seem to have lost hope, evidenced by an ambitious plan at Salaya to carry out land reclamation, dredging, construct multipurpose berths for bulk and break-bulk cargoes, berths for LNG, LPG and ammonia, FSUs, a single buoy mooring system, new storage yards, a liquid terminal, roads and transmission lines, and pipelines.
In addition, this project covers activities approved under earlier ECs but not completed within their validity period, including a liquid berth, seawater intake and return pipeline, a subsea pipeline and diffuser system and a bund (a wall around storage). "Considering the growing demand from industries near the port, there is huge potential to use existing facilities further and develop new facilities," says an EIA, which Essar filed with the GPCB on December 9 (2022), followed by a public hearing application three days later.
In the EIA report, Vadodara-based Kadam Environmental Consultants argues India's reliance on LNG will increase. "The share of R-LNG was 48% of the total gas consumed in India in 2021-22," writes Kadam.
"India consumed 49m tonnes of gas in 2021-22, of which 25m tonnes was domestically produced, and 24m tonnes was imported as LNG."