Indian liquefied natural gas imports rose 2.6 percent for the fiscal year to almost 20 million tonnes, though dropped for the month of March with cargoes arriving at a slower pace from main suppliers in Qatar, West Africa and Australia.
The shipments were received at India’s four operating import terminals at Dahej, Hazira and Dabhol near the West Coast port of Mumbai and at the new East Coast terminal at Kamarajar, 25 kilometres north of Chennai Port in Tamil Nadu.
The imports dropped in March by 14.4 percent to 1.63 million tonnes (2.20 billion cubic metres) from 1.90MT (2.47 Bcm) in March 2018.
The Asian nation’s shipments were also down in February 2019 and had amounted to 1.41MT compared with 1.56MT in February 2018.
However, the volumes for the full fiscal year to date at the end of March rose 2.6 percent to 19.98MT (27.01 Bcm) from 19.47MT in the previous fiscal year.
LNG was procured during the month by Petronet LNG, Gas Authority of India, Gujarat State Petroleum Corp., Reliance Industries, Bharat Petroleum Corp., Torrent Power and Indian Oil Corp., according to data from the Indian Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Gas.
Domestic natural gas output during March 2019 rose by 1.2 percent to 2.81 Bcm compared with 2.78 Bcm in the same month the previous year.
The cumulative production of natural gas for the 12 months of the fiscal year was up 0.7 percent to 32.87 Bcm compared with 32.64 Bcm in the previous fiscal year.
The Ministry said that LNG imports were regasified to make up 52 percent of the nation’s natural gas consumption during March as overall monthly gas usage totalled 4.57 Bcm.
The major natural gas consuming sectors for the combined LNG and domestic gas output were the fertilizer industry (29 percent), gas-fired power (21 percent), city-gas distribution (17 percent), refineries (13 percent) and petrochemicals (7 percent).
Among the LNG cargoes that were received at the Dahej terminal in March, there was one carried by the 172,000 cubic metres capacity carrier “Beidou Star”. The vessel unloaded a shipment on March 19 from the Gorgon plant on Barrow Island in Western Australia.
African cargoes unloaded at Dahej included one carried on the 160,500 cubic metres capacity vessel “Sonangol Sambizanga” from Angola in southwest Africa.
Among the Qatari cargoes, the 210,100 cubic metres capacity Q-Flex carrier “Al Ghariya” unloaded a shipment at Dahej on March 23 from Ras Laffan in Qatar.
