SINGAPORE, Feb 24 (Reuters) - Adani Total Private Ltd
will receive its first liquefied natural gas (LNG) cargo at the
Dhamra terminal on India's east coast in April and expects to
start commercial operations 30 to 45 days after receiving the
shipment, the Adani Group told Reuters.
The start-up of the 5 million tonnes per annum (mtpa) LNG
import terminal, delayed from September 2021, is crucial to
Prime Minister Narendra Modi's plan to boost natural gas use in
the country's energy mix to 15% from about 6% currently.
The Adani Group's first LNG import terminal will boost gas
use in India's east, where the Dhamra project is only the second
import terminal. The country's five other import terminals are
on its western coast.
Adani Total, in which French energy giant TotalEnergies SE has a 50% stake, said the Dhamra terminal expected
safety checks and testing to be completed in February, adding
that all key regulatory approvals have been achieved.
"The port infrastructure at Dhamra is ready to receive LNG
cargoes at the Terminal per the contractual specifications," an
Adani Group spokeswoman said in an emailed response to questions
late on Thursday.
India's imports fell for a second consecutive year in 2022
after rising for seven years, data from analytics firm Kpler
showed, with its appetite curbed by high prices due to Europe's
scramble for gas to replace supply from Russia.
However in January, as Asian LNG prices cooled,
imports rose for the first time in eight months, government data
showed. Officials expect expanded local gas distribution to
drive LNG demand in the coming years.
Adani Total expects to receive 2.2 million tonnes of LNG at
Dhamra in the year to March 2024, the company's chief executive
told Reuters this month.
It has a 20-year take-or-pay contract to provide
regasification services to state-run Indian Oil Corp for 3 million tonnes per annum (mtpa) of LNG and 1.5 mtpa for
government-run gas distributor GAIL (India) Ltd .
(Reporting by Sudarshan Varadhan and Emily Chow in Singapore)
Twitter: @sudvaradhan;))
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