H-Energy, the energy arm of realty major Hiranandani Group, is looking to source around 1 million tonnes per annum (MTPA) of additional LNG cargo for its Jaigarh terminal as the company plans to start operations in the October-December quarter of 2019.
“We already sourced around 1 million tonnes from three different suppliers including Petronas, and now we are in the market once again to contract another 0.7 million tonnes as a ramp up requirement.
The regasification term contracts will be effective from January 1, 2020,” a senior company official told FE. The terminal will start with a capacity of 1.5 million tonnes and will be ramped up to 2.5 mtpa in a year, the official added.
The company that plans to take its capacity to 8 MTPA after the second phase expansion at Jaigarh, believes, gas demand has been very stable in the last six months, and going ahead expects the demand to grow from the industrial and commercial sectors. Of late industries have become quality conscious and are relying more on cleaner fuels like natural gas.
“The natural gas heating is more constant and consistent compared to fuel oil, which leads to quality issues. Hence, people are preferring cleaner fuels like gas at present,” the official said. “We see demand from industrial consumers, especially the fertilisers and refineries in Maharashtra, Gujarat, North India and parts of South India,” the official added.
India is planning to raise the share of natural gas in its energy mix to 15% in three years from the present 6.5%. The country currently imports the majority of its natural gas requirement in the form of LNG from Qatar, Nigeria, and the United Arab Emirates, among other nations.
Qatar accounts for around 62% of overall LNG imports by India, followed by Nigeria (12%). H-Energy imports regasified LNG and supplies to its clients utilizing the terminal.
