India’s liquefied natural gas (LNG) imports rose for the second month in a row in February, according to the preliminary data from the oil ministry’s Petroleum Planning and Analysis Cell.
The country imported 2.25 billion cubic meters or about 1.66 million tonnes of LNG in February, a rise of 11 percent when compared to the same month in 2022, PPAC said.
Also, February LNG imports were almost flat when compared to 2.26 bcm in January.
During the April-February period, India took 24.76 bcm of LNG, or some 18.4 million tonnes, down by 12.8 percent, PPAC said.
India paid $1.5 billion for February LNG imports, a rise of about 36 percent compared to $1.1 billion in 2022, while costs increased about 40 percent year-on-year to $16.8 billion in April-February, it said.
As per India’s natural gas production, it rose by 1.9 percent to 2.65 bcm in February. Gas production increased by 1.1 percent in April-February to 31.49 bcm.
India’s monthly LNG imports have been constantly dropping last year due to mostly high spot prices. However, Asian spot LNG prices dropped this year.
Petronet LNG previously said it is expecting India’s LNG imports to increase in the first quarter of this year due to lower spot prices.
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 78.2 percent capacity, while Shell’s 5 mtpa Hazira terminal operated at 37.5 percent capacity in April-January, PPAC said.