LNG

Indian Oil Corp., the refining and fuel marketing company, has started commissioning the first liquefied natural import terminal on the East Coast of India near the city of Chennai with a shipment from Qatar.

The new terminal is located at Kamarajar Port in the southeast state of Tamil Nadu .

The commissioning cargo was unloaded from the 160,000 cubic metres capacity carrier “Golar Snow” after being lifted from the Qatargas export complex at Ras Laffan on February 17 and delivered to Kamarajar where the vessel was still moored on March 4.

During the cool-down process all the systems and infrastructure at the newest Indian terminal are being made ready to safely receive and handle regular cargoes and regasified LNG.

The storage tanks and all the related terminal equipment were cooled with vapour to take the first cargo.

Indian Oil’s terminal at Kamarajar, formerly one of India’s main coal ports and previously called Ennore, will have annual capacity of 5 million tonnes per annum.

Kamarajar is India’s sixth LNG import terminal and is expected to spur industrial growth in the area with the regasified LNG being distributed to power generation plants, fertiliser plants and other industrial units.

Indian Oil is the main stakeholder in the facility, though other investors have been named as the Indian private equity fund, IDFC Alternatives, and ICICI Bank, part of an Indian multinational banking and financial services company based in Mumbai.

Once the Kamarajar terminal is fully commissioned it will join the five other facilities on the West Coast at Dahej, Dabhol, Hazira, Mundra and Kochi to supply India’s growing natural gas needs.

Analysts said the coming on stream of this first regasification facility on the East Coast is a landmark in Indian Oil's efforts and those of the government to improve natural gas infrastructure in the country.

The Kamarajar terminal is located about 25 kilometres north of Chennai Port and initially the imports will supply natural gas to industry in the Manali area, including Madras Fertilizers Ltd., Chennai Petroleum Corp. and Tamil Nadu Petroproducts.

The venture and several other East Coast terminals under development will rebalance the nation’s regasification infrastructure with East Coast import capability.

Indian Oil is also pursuing city-gas projects and another East Coast LNG terminal with Gas Authority of India and the Adani Group.

With GAIL and Adani, Indian Oil is developing the Dhamra project in the state of Odisha.

The Dhamra terminal will bring in LNG imports to serve city-gas and power projects as well as industrial customers.