India’s gas importer Petronet LNG is planning to set up an LNG import facility at Gopalpur port in the state Odisha, India, as it looks to foray into the petrochemical business.
In the latest annual report, the company said that the new floating import terminal will be used to meet the growing gas demand in eastern and central regions of India.
In a statement, Oil Secretary Tarun Kapoor, who is also the Chairman of Petronet, said the company is looking at setting up a floating terminal at Gopalpur port in Odisha and is ’embarking upon a major diversification drive to broad base its business activity and is exploring to have an ethane/ propane import facility at Dahej terminal’.
In 2015-16, Petronet dropped its plan to set up a 5 MMT a year import facility at Gangavaram in Andhra Pradesh, citing weak demand to justify a facility.
Soon after the planned exit, work was started by Adani Group to launch a 5 MMT a year import terminal at Dhamra port in Odisha.
Petronet said it now sees increased gas demand in the eastern region and expects the Gopalpur facility would cater to this demand, despite the Dhamra LNG terminal, reported Press Trust of India (PTI) citing a source.
In the annual report, Petronet chairman Tarun Kapoor said that the firm has also planned to set up a petrochemical complex based on imported propane at Dahej LNG Terminal.
Kapoor added: “The foray into petrochemicals would be a forward integration of our strategy as the same planned to get synchronised with our upcoming third jetty project and available land bank at Dahej.”
Without giving investment details or timelines for the project implementation, he said the firm is in process of obtaining the final investment decision for the project.
Petronet is 50% owned by state-owned refiners Indian Oil Corp (IOC) and Bharat Petroleum Corp Ltd (BPCL), gas utility GAIL (India) Ltd and oil and gas producer ONGC. The four companies sit on the board of the company, which is headed by the Secretary, Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Gas.