LNG

Indian liquefied natural gas imports rebounded by more than 11 percent in June even at higher prices after last month’s decline as internal gas demand also increased along with domestic production.

LNG imports for the month of June amounted to 1.96 million tonnes, or 29 cargoes, compared with 1.76MT, or 26 cargoes, in June 2023, an increase of 11.3 percent, according to preliminary data from the Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Gas.

LNG imports for the month of May had also come to 1.96MT compared with 2.11MT in May 2023, a decrease of 7.2 percent.

The deliveries for the first three months of the fiscal year so far from April to June edged higher by 0.7 percent to 5.77MT versus 5.73MT in the prior-year period.

Data showed that LNG deliveries in June 2024 cost $1.1 billion which was 10 percent higher than the $1Bln paid in June 2023.

Deliveries of LNG to India’s growing number of regasification terminals come from Qatar, which provides over one-third of volumes, as well as West Africa, the US, Russia Asia-Pacific nations and the spot market.

India’s eighth LNG import terminal, the Chhara facility in the West Coast state of Gujarat, received its commissioning cargo in April 2024.

The Chhara terminal has 5 million tonnes per annum of capacity and has been developed by Hindustan Petroleum Corp.

Domestic gas

The Indian Ministry data showed that India’s domestic natural gas production for the month of June rose by 2.9 percent to 2.993 billion cubic metres versus the 2.910 Bcm reported in June last year.

In the three months of the current fiscal year so far, natural gas output increased by 5.7 percent to 9.056 Bcm, up from 8.564 Bcm in the same period of 2023.

Reliance Industries, the Indian group with significant energy interests, started up a third gas field in the Krishna Godavari Basin KG-D6 block on the East Coast a year ago in a joint venture with BP of the UK. 

India’s production of coal-bed methane (CBM), which in Australia is used to produce LNG, also increased in June to 59.63 Bcm, up from 58.60 Bcm in May 2024 and was at 173.10 Bcm for the first three months of the fiscal year.

The Ministry also gave average capacity utilization rates for seven LNG terminals and with data covering the period from April 2024 to May 2024.

The total capacity of existing terminals has now risen to 52.7 MTPA from the eight facilities. 

However, the Chhara LNG terminal will take several months to appear in the Ministry regasification data book.

Regasification

The largest Indian terminal at Dahej, located north of Mumbai and operated by Petronet LNG, has capacity of 17.5 MTPA and had the highest utilisation rate of 107.2 percent of nameplate capacity in the period, up from 101 percent in May.

At the Hazira facility, operated by Shell India, the utilisation rate increased to 38.3 percent from 28.6 percent in May for 5.2 MTPA of capacity.

The GAIL (India) terminal at Dabhol, south of Mumbai, reported 73.8 percent usage, up from 69.9 percent last month for its 5 MTPA.

The West Coast terminal at Mundra belonging to Gujarat State Petroleum Corp. had regas levels at  34.4 percent up from 33.8 percent in MTPA and its highest ever for 5 MTPA.

At the Kochi facility owned by Petronet in the southwest state of Kerala usage edged lower to 20.6 percent from 20.9 percent last month for 5 MTPA of regas capacity.

The Kamarajar (Ennore) terminal owned by Indian Oil on the East Coast, saw capacity rise to 25.8 percent from 25.6 last month for 5 MTPA.

At the second East Coast terminal, owned by the Adani group and TotalEnergies and located at Dhamra in the state of Odisha, the utilisation rate was 25 percent in the April-May period, down from 26.9 percent for its 5 MTPA.

The Ministry data also showed that the nation had a total of 23,560 kilometres of natural gas pipelines in operation and another 5,630km was currently under construction.

GAIL India had the longest network of 15,916km of pipelines and a distant second place was occupied by the Gujarat State pipelines group and its 2,722km of pipelines.

Consumption

India’s natural gas consumption for June was 5.594 Bcm, an increase of 7.1 percent from 5.224 Bcm in June 2023.

Consumption for the April-to-June period was 16.707 Bcm, up by 3.8 percent compared with the 16.101 Bcm logged in the same period of 2023.

The major Indian consumers of natural gas are the fertilizer industry with around 34 percent of consumption, city-gas 22 percent, power generation 15 percent, refineries 9 percent, petrochemicals 5 percent and others 15 percent.  

GAIL India, the state-owned LNG importer and natural gas pipeline grid and city-gas operator, increased net profits though gas marketing earnings declined.

Indian liquefied natural gas imports increased by 15 percent for the first 10 months of the fiscal year so far and  by 26 percent in January as an additional terminal was available and as prices declined by 27 percent since last year while demand continued to grow.

Indian liquefied natural gas imports surged for a third straight month by over 18 percent, helped by lower prices and higher domestic natural gas demand and amid more competition from rising local output from offshore the Bay of Bengal.

Indian liquefied natural gas imports rebounded by 6.5 percent and offset a monthly decline in domestic gas production at a time when gas demand is rising and prices steadily falling from last year’s record levels.

GAIL India Ltd., the state-owned LNG importer and natural gas pipeline grid and city-gas operator, reported a halving of net profits for the fiscal year as Russian LNG supplies resumed and it considered taking a stake in a US export project.

LNG importer India is expected to encourage increased domestic natural gas demand in the months ahead after the Government introduced a gas prices cap for two years to help boost the economy in sectors such as the fertilizer industry, refining and petrochemicals.

March 27 (LNGJ) - India’s Petroleum and Natural Gas Regulatory Board has set the tariff for pipelines operated by Gas Authority of India (GAIL), which is also an LNG importer. The pipeline tariff has been set at 58.61 Indian rupees (US$0.71) effective from April.

   GAIL (India) said the tariff applies to nine physically inter-connected natural gas pipelines, including several near LNG import terminals such as the Dahej Uran-Dabhol-Panvel Pipeline (DUPL-DPPL) and the Dabhol-Bangalore Pipeline (DBPL).

Swan Energy Ltd, part of the Indian conglomerate the Swan Group with interests in oil and gas, textiles and infrastructure has given details of its lease-out deal to Turkey’s state-owned Petroleum Pipeline Corp. (BOTAS) of a floating storage and regasification unit.

The charter for the “Vasant 1” floating storage and regasification unit (FSRU), which is controlled by Japan’s Mitsui OSK Lines, is held by Swan Energy subsidiary Triumph Offshore Private Limited (TOPL) and has now moved to Saros Bay offshore northern Turkey.

The FSRU “Vasant 1” has capacity of 180,000 cubic metres and was completed by Hyundai Heavy Industries of South Korea at the end of 2020 for Swan‘s planned LNG import terminal at Jafrabad in India’s Gujarat state.

Swan was the lead promoter of the delayed Jafrabad LNG import terminal with a 63 percent equity stake.

The other shareholders are the Government of Gujarat with a 26 percent interest and the remaining 11 percent is owned by FSRU Venture India One Ltd, the Indian subsidiary of Japanese shipping line Mitsui OSK Lines.

MOL acted as technical partner for the Jafrabad project by supervising the construction of the FSRU.

Charter rates

“The lease arrangement is generating daily rental of $250,000, or about 2 crore Indian rupees (as per the present exchange rate), for Swan Energy,” said the Indian firm of the BOTAS deal.

“The duration of the lease agreement is for 12 months and is extendable on this basis of mutual agreement,” Swan added.

Based on the bare boat charter, TOPL has leased out only the bare FSRU vessel to BOTAS and BOTAS will manage the operational expenses including fuel, crew, insurance, maintenance, and repair.

“As a result, TOPL does not incur any operational expenses during the lease tenure,” Swan said.

BOTAS also runs the Marmara Eregesli LNG import terminal and cargoes have been received there since 1994, first from Algeria and later from countries like Qatar and Nigeria and then over the last five years from the US as well.

Commenting on the lease arrangement with BOTAS, Rishi Chopra, an executive of Swan, said the lease agreement based on bare-boat charter would enhance the rental earning capabilities of the FSRU.

“The net revenue from the annual rental will strengthen the profitability position of the company,” explained Chopra.

“By renting out the FSRU to BOTAS, we aim to play an enabling role to boost the LNG initiatives of the Turkish government to build clean energy preparedness amid a growing demand for FSRUs in that market,” he added.

Indian liquefied natural gas imports continued their 2022 decline as rising cargo costs stemmed demand in West Asia and the Indian economy showed signs of slowing as natural gas demand was flat in industrial sectors.