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The country imported about 2.90 billion cubic meters, or about 2.2 million metric tonnes, of LNG in September via long-term contracts and spot purchases, a rise of 12.4 percent compared to the same month in 2023.
PPAC’s data previously showed that LNG imports rose in August, July, and June this year compared to the previous year.
During April-September, India took 18.97 bcm of LNG, or about 14.1 million metric tonnes, up by 23.1 percent compared to the same period last year, according to PPAC.
India paid $1.2 billion for September LNG imports, up from $1.1 billion in September last year. The country paid $7.7 billion in the April-September period, up from $6.5 billion in the same period last year, PPAC said.
Moreover, India’s natural gas production reached about 2.97 bcm in September, a drop of 1.6 percent from the corresponding month of the previous year.
Natural gas production of 18.16 bcm in April-September was up by 1.6 percent compared to the same period in 2023.
India imports LNG via seven facilities with a combined capacity of about 47.7 million tonnes per year.
These include Petronet LNG’s Dahej and Kochi terminals, Shell’s Hazira terminal, and the Dabhol LNG, Ennore LNG, Mundra LNG, and Dhamra LNG terminal.
The Chhara LNG import terminal in Gujarat should receive its commissioning cargo later this year after it failed to unload the cargo from the 2015-built 159,800-cbm, Maran Gas Mystras.
India’s Hindustan Petroleum, a unit of state-owned ONGC, aims to launch its delayed Chhara LNG import terminal in November or early December this year, according to its management.
PPAC said that during April-August this year, the 17.5 mtpa Dahej terminal operated at 104.5 percent capacity, while the 5.2 mtpa Hazira terminal operated at 52.4 percent capacity.
The 5 mtpa Dhamra LNG terminal operated at 48.2 percent capacity, the 5 mtpa Dabhol LNG terminal operated at 34 percent capacity, the 5 mtpa Kochi LNG terminal operated at 23 percent capacity, the 5 mtpa Ennore LNG terminal operated at 23.9 percent capacity, and the 5 mtpa Mundra LNG terminal operated at 28.8 percent capacity.
Petronet recently launched two 180,000-cbm LNG storage tanks at its Dahej terminal in western Gujarat state.
The company is expanding its Dahej LNG terminal with about 5 mtpa of new capacity, which should be available by March 2025.