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The country imported 3.22 billion cubic meters, or about 2.5 million metric tonnes, of LNG in December via long-term contracts and spot purchases, preliminary data from the oil ministry’s Petroleum Planning and Analysis Cell shows.
This marks a rise of 18.2 percent compared to the same month in 2023, PPAC said.
PPAC’s data previously showed that LNG imports rose in November, October, September, August, July, and June last year compared to the previous year.
During April-December India took 28.58 bcm of LNG, or about 21.8 million metric tonnes, up by 24.1 percent compared to the same period last year, according to PPAC.
India paid $1.2 billion for December LNG imports, up from $1.1 billion in December 2023, The country paid $11.7 billion in the April-December period, up from $9.8 billion in the same period in 2023, PPAC said.
Moreover, India’s natural gas production reached about 3.06 bcm in December, a drop of 2.1 percent from the corresponding month.
Natural gas production of 27.31 bcm in April-December was up by 0.4 percent compared to the same period in 2023.
Total natural gas consumption for December 2024 rose 7.1 percent year-on-year to 6.04 bcm, while March-December consumption increased 11,6 percent to 55.49 bcm, PPAC said.
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.
Also, Hindustan Petroleum expects its 5 mtpa Chhara LNG import terminal in India’s Gujarat to enter commercial operations soon after the facility receives its commissioning cargo.
PPAC said that during April-November last year, the 17.5 mtpa Dahej terminal operated at 101.6 percent capacity, while the 5.2 mtpa Hazira terminal operated at 40.9 percent capacity.
The 5 mtpa Dhamra LNG terminal operated at 24.4 percent capacity, the 5 mtpa Dabhol LNG terminal operated at 39.4 percent capacity, the 5 mtpa Kochi LNG terminal operated at 22.1 percent capacity, the 5 mtpa Ennore LNG terminal operated at 24.4 percent capacity, and the 5 mtpa Mundra LNG terminal operated at 24.5 percent capacity.
In October, Petronet launched two 180,000-cbm LNG storage tanks at its Dahej terminal in western Gujarat state.
The company is expanding the terminal with about 5 mtpa of new capacity, which should be available by March 2025.