India’s liquefied natural gas (LNG) imports dropped in June when compared to the same month last year, according to the preliminary data from the oil ministry’s Petroleum Planning and Analysis Cell.
The country imported 2.22 billion cubic meters, or about 1.6 million tonnes of LNG, in June, a drop of 1.6 percent when compared to the same month in 2022, PPAC said.
During April-June, India took 7.59 bcm of LNG, or some 5.8 million tonnes, up by 4.4 percent, PPAC said.
India paid $1.4 billion for June LNG imports, down from $1.5 billion last year, while costs dropped from $4.7 billion in the April-June period last year to $3.8 billion during the same three months this year, it said.
As per India’s natural gas production, it reached 2.91 bcm, up by 3.4 percent when compared to the corresponding month of the previous year.
During April-June gas production rose 0.1 percent to 8.56 bcm, PPAC said.
India’s monthly LNG imports have been constantly dropping last year due to mostly high spot prices.
However, Asian spot LNG prices dropped significantly this year, prompting some buyers in India to return to the spot market.
At the moment, India imports LNG via seven facilities with a combined capacity of about 47.7 million tonnes.
India’s Adani and France’s TotalEnergies started supplying natural gas in April to the grid from their 5 mtpa Dhamra LNG import facility located in Odisha, on India’s east coast, as part of the terminal’s commissioning phase.
During April-May, Petronet LNG’s 17.5 mtpa Dahej terminal operated at 97.7 percent capacity, while Shell’s 5 mtpa Hazira terminal operated at 21.2 percent capacity, PPAC said.
The Dhamra LNG terminal operated at 24.9 percent capacity, it said.