Puri leads calls for more LNG infrastructure
Oil minister Hardeep Singh Puri is taking steps to ensure the country has adequate LNG infrastructure by 2030.
On October 8 (2024), the oil ministry met with stakeholders, including GAIL, IndianOil, Bharat Petroleum, Hindustan Petroleum and Petronet-LNG, to discuss LNG infrastructure. Among those present were IndianOil director marketing and interim chairman Satish Vaduguri; HPCL interim chairman and director finance Rajneesh Narang; BPCL chairman G Krishnakumar; Petronet-LNG MD AK Singh; and GAIL chairman Sandeep Gupta.
Puri led the meeting, which began with discussions about India's current LNG infrastructure. "There is 47m t/y of LNG regasification capacity all over India," says a source.
After reviewing the current infrastructure, Puri asked stakeholders how it compares to demand. Our source adds that the ministry believes India should have at least 100m t/y to 125m t/y of LNG infrastructure by 2030, including LNG terminals, small-scale LNG terminals, and LNG stations.
Also discussed was how to improve the utilisation of old and upcoming terminals. Apart from Petronet-LNG's Dahej terminal, all the others have low utilisation.
Dahej operated at 95% 2023-24; Hazira at 30%; Dabhol at 43%; Ennore at 18%; Dhamra at 27%; Mundra at 15%; and Kochi at 21%. Puri directed GAIL to lay adequate pipeline infrastructure and to connect LNG terminals swiftly.
Highly optimistic estimates suggest India's gas demand will surge from 200m cm/d to 400-500m cm/d in the next five to six years. "But realistically," our source continues, "demand will probably go up to about 300m cm/d in that period."