India’s liquefied natural gas (LNG) imports rose in April 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 2.21 billion cubic meters or about 1.65 million tonnes of LNG in April, a rise of 6.5 percent when compared to the same month in 2022, PPAC said.
Also, April LNG imports were almost flat when compared to 2.23 bcm in March.
During the April 2022-March 2023 financial year, India took 26.64 bcm of LNG, or some 20.1 million tonnes, down by 14.1 percent, PPAC previously said.
India paid $1.4 billion for April LNG imports, down from $1.5 billion last year, while costs increased about 28.1 percent year-on-year to $17.3 billion in April-March, it said.
As per India’s natural gas production, it dropped to 2.74 bcm in April from 2.82 bcm last year.
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 six facilities with a combined capacity of about 42.7 million tonnes.
In addition, India’s Adani and France’s TotalEnergies recently started supplying natural gas to the grid from their Dhamra LNG import facility located in Odisha, on India’s east coast, as part of the terminal’s commissioning phase.
Petronet LNG’s 17.5 mtpa Dahej terminal operated at 77.8 percent capacity, while Shell’s 5 mtpa Hazira terminal operated at 36.6 percent capacity in April-March, PPAC said.