India’s LNG imports continue to drop

India’s monthly liquefied natural gas (LNG) imports are continuing to decline, mostly due to very high spot prices.

Preliminary data from the oil ministry’s Petroleum Planning and Analysis Cell shows that LNG imports in April declined by 13.2 percent to 2.47 billion cubic meters or about 1.81 million tonnes.

India’s LNG imports dropped when compared to the prior month as well. LNG imports decreased by 3.4 percent to 31.90 bcm or about 23.45 million tonnes in the fiscal year ending March 2022, PPAC previously said.

On the other side, natural gas production in April increased by 6.6 percent to 2.82 bcm. Gas production rose 18.7 percent in the April-March period to 34.02 bcm, according to PPAC.

The data from PPAC shows that India paid $1.3 billion for April LNG imports, a big increase compared to $0.8 billion last year.

Asian spot prices traded well above $30/MMBtu for weeks this year, prompting Indian buyers to hold off on buying spot volumes.

It dropped in the meantime and the JKM LNG price for July closed at 21.996/MMBtu on Monday, but it is still very high for this time of the year.

At the moment, India imports LNG via six facilities with a combined capacity of about 42.7 million tonnes.

Petronet LNG’s 17.5 mtpa Dahej terminal operated at 87.5 percent capacity while Shell’s 5 mtpa Hazira terminal operated at 47.2 percent capacity in April-March, the PPAC data shows.

Earlier this month, India’s largest LNG importer Petronet said that its Dahej terminal processed 178 TBTU of LNG in the first quarter. This compares to 204 TBTU in the same quarter last year and 196 TBTU in the previous quarter.

Most Popular

CoolCo seeks long-term employment for two LNG carriers

In August, Coolco said it plans to employ its first newbuild LNG vessel, Kool Tiger, on a shorter deal...

BP, partners take FID on $7 billion Tangguh UCC project

BP said in a statement on Thursday the Tangguh Ubadari, CCUS, compression project (UCC) has the potential to unlock...

LNG Canada pipeline enters commercial service

Canada's TC Energy said on Tuesday CGL had executed a commercial agreement with LNG Canada and CGL customers that...

More News Like This

HPCL’s Chhara LNG terminal to get commissioning cargo in December or January

In April this year, the 2015-built 159,800-cbm, Maran Gas Mystras, arrived at the 5 mtpa LNG terminal in the Chhara port...

India continues to boost LNG imports

The country imported 2.93 billion cubic meters, or about 2.2 million metric tonnes, of LNG in October via long-term...

Toyo Engineering secures contract for third Dahej LNG jetty

Toyo Engineering India has been awarded the engineering, procurement and construction (EPC) contract for the topside facilities of the...

Petronet optimistic on Indian LNG demand growth

Petronet operates the 17.5 mtpa Dahej LNG terminal in western Gujarat state and the 5 mtpa Kochi terminal in...