Petronet expects to launch additional Dahej LNG capacity by June

The Dahej LNG terminal is India’s largest LNG import facility and currently has a capacity of 17.5 mtpa.

Last year, Petronet launched two new Dahej LNG storage tanks, T-107 and T-108, each with a capacity of 180,000 cbm.

These two tanks add to six existing storage tanks at the Dahej terminal with a total capacity of 932,000 cbm, while Pertonet is also building a third jetty at the facility.

Petronet’s executives previously said that the 5 mtpa additional capacity at the Dahej terminal should be available by March 2025.

Asked about the ramp-up plan and how much of this new capacity is under firm offtake agreements during Petronet’s earnings call last week, Mishra said the company is still working on capacity booking.

“So, utilization will be there, just wait for some time because this capacity will be in place, maybe, by June, I think it should be in place,” he said.

“Before that, we should also be able to make some bookings for the capacity. We are looking forward for that and we are talking to the offtakers to book more capacity in our terminal,” Mishra said.

However, he said that the capacity booking may not be 100 percent of 5 mtpa, but it could be “maybe 40-50 percent, also that will be good enough,” he said.

“But we will have more capacity to regas more spot volumes coming in the future because in future the growth is already there, more terminals are also coming, but at the same time more long-term contracts have been signed,” Mishra said.

“So, I think there is a chance that more cargoes will come to our Dahej terminal in the future,” he said.

Utilization depends on spot prices

Asked whether the utilization for the expanded capacity could be around 30-40 percent for fiscal 2026 and 60-70 percent for fiscal 2027, Mishra said that it “may happen” like that.

Vivek Mittal, Petronet’s VP of marketing, added that that this is also a “subject of what the international spot prices are.”

“As you know Indian market is very, very price sensitive. So, like last summer, we saw the prices softening, there was a lot of utilization, and we were doing more than 109-110 percent of our capacity,” he said.

“If we achieve that kind of prices, which is expected with the coming of new liquefaction plants specifically in the latter half of this year, so if prices soften then utilization level will of course increase,” he said.

“So, let us hope that the prices soften which will help us in utilization and increasing share of gas in India’s energy basket,” Mittal said.

Petronet’s promoters are Bharat Petroleum (BPCL), GAIL, Indian Oil, and ONGC.

The company has been importing LNG from Qatar under a long-term deal since 2004.

Last year, state-owned LNG giant QatarEnergy signed a new 20-year long-term contract with Petronet for around 7.5 mtpa of LNG.

Petronet also has a long-term SPA with US energy giant ExxonMobil for volumes from the Gorgon LNG project in Australia.