Petronet LNG has completed a 2.5 million mt/year expansion at the Dahej LNG import terminal which will be fully operational by the end of the month, sources familiar with the matter told S&P Global Platts. Petronet LNG, in a note to the Securities and Exchange Board of India, confirmed Monday that the 2.5 million mt/year regasification capacity has been commissioned and that the additional gas send-out from the terminal has begun. The expansion would take the terminal's total import capacity to 17.5 million mt/year.
The Dahej LNG import terminal is India's busiest LNG terminal, accounting for 72% or 15.98 million mt/year of the total LNG imports into India in 2018, Platts Analytics data showed. In 2019, the terminal has imported 6.71 million mt/year or 71% of the total LNG imports into the country year to date, the data showed. The terminal often operates at a higher than 100% capacity utilization rate, with the capacity utilization rate being 107% and 110% in April and May this year, India's Petroleum Planning and Analysis Cell data showed.
"Dahej was already importing 16-16.5 million mt/year before the expansion, so hopefully it should reach its full import capacity by the year-end," a source familiar with the matter said.
Petronet LNG operates the 17.5 million mt/year Dahej LNG terminal in Gujarat and a 5 million mt/year LNG terminal at Kochi in Kerala, both on India's west coast. Its major shareholders are India's state-owned GAIL, Oil and Natural Gas Corp., Indian Oil Corp. and Bharat Petroleum Corp. Ltd., each with a 12.5% stake. The remaining shares are public.
