LNG

Adnoc Gas, the natural gas and LNG producer in Abu Dhabi in the United Arab Emirates, has signed a 10-year supply agreement with GAIL India, the Indian pipeline gas and city-gas player whose facilities include the Dabhol LNG import terminal south of Mumbai.

Under terms of the deal, Adnoc Gas said it would supply GAIL with 500,000 tonnes per annum of LNG.

The latest Adnoc Gas agreement for LNG volumes follows similar deals signed with Japan Petroleum Exploration, France’s TotalEnergies, Indian Oil Corp. and PetroChina International.

Adnoc Gas, which was spun-off in March 2023 from Abu Dhabi National Oil Co. (ADNOC) to become a separate company, is estimated to have the seventh-largest gas reserves globally.

Step forward

“This long-term LNG supply agreement with GAIL India marks a significant step forward in our commitment to continue providing reliable and sustainable energy solutions to our partners and customers around the world,” said Ahmed Mohamed Alebri, Chief Executive of Adnoc Gas.

“India continues to be a key market for Adnoc Gas and this latest supply agreement underscores our ongoing dedication to fostering long-term partnerships,” added Alebri.

The main Adnoc Gas LNG operation is the the Das Island plant in Abu Dhabi with three liquefaction Trains and 6 MTPA of output.

The Das Island facility has operated since 1977 and was the first export plant established in the Arabian Gulf.

“Adnoc Gas continues to leverage opportunities arising from ADNOC’s integrated gas masterplan, which links every part of the gas value chain in the UAE,” said the company.

The ADNOC Group is leading the developments for the UAE that includes the new low-carbon Ruwais LNG export project currently under development in Al Ruwais Industrial City in Abu Dhabi.

Al Ruwais project

When completed, Al Ruwais will have two liquefaction Trains each with capacity of 4.8 MTPA for a total of 9.6 MTPA.

GAIL is a leading natural gas company in West Asia with a presence in India’s gas trading, transmission, city-gas and other sectors including petrochemicals.

The New Delhi-based company currently has a 75 percent share of the gas transmission network.

Its pipeline assets are 14,490 kilometres (9,000 miles) in length and GAIL makes about 50 percent of the country’s domestic natural gas sales.

GAIL has six subsidiaries including GAIL Global USA Inc., which looks after its Cove Point LNG interests in the state of Maryland.

The company also runs an LNG trading business based in Singapore.

Other assets include a majority stake in Konkan LNG, the ownership company of India's Dabhol LNG import terminal, located in the West Coast Indian state of Maharashtra, south of Mumbai, and with 5 MTPA of capacity.

Mahanagar Gas Limited (MGL), the growing Indian city-gas distribution company, has signed an agreement with Baidyanath LNG (BLNG) to give some momentum to the expansion of a liquefied natural gas fuel station network with a build-out starting from the western state of Maharashtra.

MGL, which is listed on the Bombay Stock Exchange, is the sole authorized distributor of compressed natural gas (CNG) and Pipeline Natural gas (PNG) in the city of Mumbai and its adjoining areas as well as in the city of Raigarh, located in the land-locked central Indian state of Chhattisgarh.

BLNG is an LNG fuel pioneer and opened India’s first LNG fuel station almost two years ago at Dighori and which was aimed at LNG-powered vehicles using the national highways around Nagpur, one of the main cities in Maharashtra.

Until the BLNG fuel station opened, the only LNG fuelling point were at India’s LNG import terminals where truck-loading stations are open to contracted customers only, though cannot supply random members of the public.

Infrastructure

“We are pleased to enter into this arrangement with BLNG for development of LNG infrastructure,” said Ashu Shinghal, Managing Director, of MGL.

“Both parties have their own set of skills and capabilities which can be harnessed to offer seamless solutions to the customers. MGL has always played a constructive role in the development of an environment which can facilitate faster adoption of cleaner fuel,” explained Shinghal.

MGL already has city-gas connectivity to approximately 2.07 million domestic households, which is a high figure for India, and operates about 300 filling stations mainly selling compressed natural gas (CNG).

The company additionally has more than 6,400 kilometres of pipelines and associated infrastructure.

BLNG Chief Executive Vaddadi Subbarao said he was delighted to enter into this agreement with MGL for the development of an LNG corridor to be initially focused on the Maharashtra region.

“This agreement provides us with an added impetus in our mission to create a wide network of these LNG stations across Maharashtra. We look forward to enabling India’s mission of decarbonizing heavy trucking by ensuring uninterrupted LNG supply on key trucking routes,” Subbarao explained.

The Baidyanath group, a private company, distributes medicines, food and cosmetics as the main part of company activities.

While its energy unit operates just two LNG fuel stations at the moment it plans to set up around 15 stations in the Vidarbha region of Maharashtra.

MGL in addition to being BSE-listed counts among its shareholders Gas Authority of India (GAIL) with a 32.5 percent stake and the government of the state of Maharashtra, which owns 10 percent of MGL. 

Höegh LNG Holdings said the floating storage and regasification unit (FSRU) contract in India that would have been India’s seventh terminal has been terminated with Höegh claiming a default by the charterer while contractual terms have still to be worked out for two other FSRUs expected to be chartered to Germany.

Indian liquefied natural gas imports dropped for a fourth month and by more than 10 percent as the costs of shipments rose at a slower pace and the debut of a seventh terminal was delayed by higher prices while offshore domestic gas pipeline supplies continued to increase on the East Coast.

Indian liquefied natural gas imports dropped for a third month, though by a lesser amount that the previous two months as the costs of LNG shipments soared, though falling volumes were again offset by offshore domestic natural gas pipeline supplies on the East Coast.

A company in Nagpur, one of the main cities in the western Indian state of Maharashtra, has set up the nation’s first commercial liquefied natural gas filling station for LNG-powered vehicles.

The LNG station is owned by Shree Baidyanath, an Indian group specializing in medicines, food and cosmetics distribution and making its first foray into the energy sector.

The first Indian LNG station open to the public was inaugurated in Nagpur on July 11.

It is located on the outer ring road towards Dighori and can serve LNG-powered cars, trucks or buses.

At present, four of India’s LNG import terminals have truck-loading stations for contracted customers, but cannot service random members of the public.

“This is the first-ever in the country to operate on a commercial basis,” said Subbarao Vaddadi, director of B-LNG, the fuel division of the Baidyanath group.

Baidyanath’s branching out into LNG was supported by the Indian Transportation Minister Nitin Gadkari, who is also a member of parliament in New Dehli for the City for Nagpur.

The Minister was looking for local companies to come forward and set up the LNG station and the Baidyanath group agreed to invest in the project.

“The station is operational and can take 60 vehicles a day for the pump to operate feasibly,” said B-LNG’s Vaddadi.

The Baidyanath group said it also had plans to convert 120 vehicles in Nagpur, including buses and trucks, to run on LNG.

The company said that LNG is being promoted as a cleaner alternative to diesel and the price of the LNG fuel at the Nagpur station would be lower than the current market price to encourage uptake of LNG fuel for transport.

LNG terminal truck-loading is available at India’s biggest terminal, the Dahej facility in the West Coast state of Gujarat and owned by Petronet LNG, as well as Petronet’s Kochi terminal in Kerala and the Hazira and Mundra terminals in the northwest.

LNG as a fuel for transport has been slow to take off in India even in the midst of increasing urban pollution problems.

In June 2021 the state of Kerala started a trial of LNG-powered buses in the first stage of a possible nationwide roll-out.

The LNG and the buses are being supplied to the Kerala State Road Transport Corporation (KSRTC) by Kochi LNG terminal owner Petronet.

The KSRTC has also drawn up plans to convert several hundred diesel-fuelled buses to LNG.

Indian liquefied natural gas imports last month surged more than 9 percent along with domestic natural gas production, up more than 19 percent, as economic activity proved to be more resilient as the nation emerged from the worst of the Covid-19 pandemic.

Höegh LNG Holdings, the Norwegian shipping company acquired in a takeover by Norwegian interests and a unit of US investment bank Morgan Stanley, posted a wider loss in the first quarter of 2021 as it reported setbacks in its tenders for projects.

India’s liquefied natural gas imports edged higher for the first month in four, along with domestic gas production, as a new LNG import facility on the West Coast is being commissioned to boost delivery capability amid the nation’s slow economic recovery from the ongoing effects of Covid-19.

Höegh LNG, the Norwegian-US fleet owner, has seen its floating storage and regasification unit (FSRU), the “Höegh Giant”, leave Singapore to be deployed offshore India at the end of this week as the Asian nation’s seventh LNG import terminal.