India’s largest liquefied natural gas importer, Petronet LNG, has received the 100th cargo of LNG at its Kochi import terminal in southern Kerala state.
Petronet said in a brief statement via social media that the 2021-built 174,000-cbm Cool Racer, owned by Greece’s Thenamaris, delivered the milestone cargo on July 3.
The firm did not provide additional information.
Cool Racer’s AIS data provided by VesselsValue shows that the LNG carrier previously picked up the cargo at Chevron’s 15.5 mtpa Gorgon LNG facility in Western Australia.
Petronet has a long-term contract with ExxonMobil for about 1.42 mtpa per year of Gorgon LNG volumes.
Launched in 2013, Petronet’s Kochi LNG import plant has a capacity of 5 mtpa and two LNG storage tanks.
In the absence of required pipeline network to increase the terminal utilization, Petronet offers cool-down, reloading, and truck loading services.
PPAC data shows that the facility operated at just 19.4 percent utilization rate in April.
On the other side, Petronet’s 17.5 mtpa Dahej terminal operated at 87.5 percent capacity during April.
Besides these two LNG import plants, Petronet is working on a new FSRU-based import facility at the Gopalpur port in Odisha, as it looks to establish its presence on the eastern coast of the country.
Earlier this year, Petronas hinted that it could build its fourth LNG terminal as well.