Adani’s Rs 6,000 crore LNG terminal receives first-ever shipment at Dhamra
The new LNG import facility at Dhamra, situated on the eastern coast of India, has been launched by Adani Group and TotalEnergies. The first shipment of liquefied natural gas was received by the facility from the Qatari ship ‘Milaha Ras Laffan’ on April 1, which contained 2.6 trillion British thermal units of natural gas in its frozen form.
The commissioning and testing operations will take around 45 days, and commercial operations are anticipated to begin after that. The terminal will produce natural gas for various purposes, including steel making, fertilizer production, and conversion to CNG and cooking gas, and will play a crucial role in fulfilling Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s target of increasing natural gas usage in the country’s energy mix to 15 per cent by 2030 from the current 6.3 per cent.
Dhamra is India’s only LNG import terminal on the eastern coast and the second on the entire coast, with the other five terminals located on the western coast. Adani Total Pvt Ltd, which holds a 50-50 stake in the project, will use the received cargo for safety checks and system testing before starting commercial operations. The facility is expected to import around 2.2-2.3 million tonnes of LNG in the first year, followed by a gradual ramp-up to full capacity.
The Milaha Ras Laffan, loaded at Qatargas on March 21, has a capacity of 135,000 cubic meters and was provided with a test cargo by TotalEnergies from its portfolio. The terminal is a tolling facility, with state-owned GAIL (India) Ltd and Indian Oil Corporation (IOC) reserving capacity to import LNG at the terminal.
The imported LNG will be reconverted into gas before being transported to refineries and fertilizer units. The gas will also be converted into CNG for use in vehicles and piped into household kitchens for cooking purposes. The terminal has a 20-year take-or-pay agreement to provide regasification services to IOC for 3 million tonnes per annum of LNG and 1.5 million tonnes to GAIL.
The partnership between Adani and TotalEnergies, Adani Total Pvt Ltd, has built and delivered the project over the last four years. Despite several challenges, such as the pandemic, cyclones, difficult soil conditions, supply chain disruptions, and the highly volatile LNG market due to the conflict in Europe, the JV has overcome all the obstacles and delivered the project successfully. The partnership combines Adani’s world-class infrastructure and port development capabilities with TotalEnergies’ expertise as the third-largest global LNG player.
Dhamra will be the primary supply point on the recently completed Urja Ganga pipeline developed by GAIL, providing gas access to over 35 per cent of India’s population, covering about 20 per cent of the country’s land mass. Refineries, fertilizer plants, industries, and city gas networks in the hinterland will be the major consumers of gas from Dhamra LNG.