Petronet LNG Ltd, which meets about 40% of the country’s total gas demand from its terminal at Dahej, is planning to invest Rs 17 billion to build a third jetty, said industry sources close to the development. “The company recently floated a tender to initiate construction work for the project. The expansion was stuck for some time due to the Covid pandemic,” said an industry expert, aware of the matter. As many as eight companies are in the race for the jetty project, he further said.
With this project, the company aims to undergo diversification as it has chalked out plans to import liquid ethane and propane at the third jetty. Ethane is feedstock for the manufacturing of petrochemicals and is used to produce plastics, while propane is used as cooking gas and for home and water heating. Earlier this year, a senior company executive said they were exploring plans to set up a petrochemicals complex in Gujarat.
PLL owns and operates LNG terminal at Dahej which commenced its commercial operations in April 2004. “Considering the increasing demand of natural gas in the country and proposed expansion of LNG terminal from 17.5 MTPA to 20 MTPA, PLL has now proposed to construct third berth (jetty) of 2.5 km adjacent to the existing second berth for unloading of LNG and transport to the storage tanks,” according to a pre-feasibility report for the third jetty.
It will also act as a risk mitigation measure in case existing berths are unable to operate for an extended period or to cater to the anticipated number of ships at a time, the report states. LL is also planning to import and unload liquid ethane and propane at the third berth through carriers of parcel size of 1 lakh cubic metres.
It is expected that 1.25 MTPA ethane will be handled initially and expandable to 2.5 MTPA in the future, as per the report. “There is a huge demand for ethane and propane by petrochemical industries available in the vicinity. Thus, it is proposed to import ethane and propane also through third berth and supply to the consumers,” it said.
The onshore infrastructure for ethane and propane storage & regasification system shall be planned and installed at a later stage. Ethane and propane unloading shall only be done after construction/installation of onshore ethane and propane storage & regasification system, it said.
