Indian Oil considers second East Coast gas terminal
State-run refiner Indian Oil Corp. is considering building a second terminal to import liquefied natural gas on the country's eastern coast as part of its upcoming Paradip refinery complex.
Indian energy companies are increasing gas imports to meet rising consumption as demand for natural gas outstrips supply.
Indian Oil's fuel requirements will rise sharply as more and more of its expanded capacity comes onstream, Refineries Director Rajkumar Ghosh told reporters Tuesday.
Mr. Ghosh said its refinery units currently burn liquid fuels like naphtha and need to switch over to cheaper alternatives like natural gas.
The Paradip refinery alone will need about 1.2 million metric tons of gas due to which Indian Oil is looking at building a 5 million ton LNG terminal, Mr. Ghosh said. "We're still thinking about it. Other companies may also join."
The country's largest refiner by capacity already has plans to build an LNG terminal at Ennore in a joint venture with the Tamil Nadu Industrial Development Corporation, an agency of the government in the southern state of Tamil Nadu.
The Ennore terminal is expected to have an initial capacity of 2.5 million tons a year, which can be expanded to 5 million tons a year, and cost 30 billion rupees ($610 million)-40 billion rupees.
"Directionally, we want to expand our gas business and LNG is an important segment," Chairman R.S. Butola told reporters after a shareholders' meeting.
He said the company plans to speed up the Ennore project. "We're going to award the front-end engineering and design, or FEED, contract. It might take six-eight months" to give the contract, he added.
"We're looking for a partner who can assure us that we'll be able to identify some sources of LNG ... we're talking to two-three companies," Mr. Butola said.
India's state-run refining and marketing companies expect their borrowing to rise in coming months as the government hasn't yet released any cash subsidy for the April-June quarter. The government gives the subsidy to share a part of their revenue losses from selling some fuels at state-set prices.
Mr. Goyal said Indian Oil has about 700 billion rupees of outstanding debt, which may rise due to a drop in the Indian rupee's value and high oil prices. He said the refiner plans to raise its borrowing limit by October to 1.1 trillion rupees from 800 billion rupees now.
Indian energy companies are increasing gas imports to meet rising consumption as demand for natural gas outstrips supply.
Indian Oil's fuel requirements will rise sharply as more and more of its expanded capacity comes onstream, Refineries Director Rajkumar Ghosh told reporters Tuesday.
Mr. Ghosh said its refinery units currently burn liquid fuels like naphtha and need to switch over to cheaper alternatives like natural gas.
The Paradip refinery alone will need about 1.2 million metric tons of gas due to which Indian Oil is looking at building a 5 million ton LNG terminal, Mr. Ghosh said. "We're still thinking about it. Other companies may also join."
The country's largest refiner by capacity already has plans to build an LNG terminal at Ennore in a joint venture with the Tamil Nadu Industrial Development Corporation, an agency of the government in the southern state of Tamil Nadu.
The Ennore terminal is expected to have an initial capacity of 2.5 million tons a year, which can be expanded to 5 million tons a year, and cost 30 billion rupees ($610 million)-40 billion rupees.
"Directionally, we want to expand our gas business and LNG is an important segment," Chairman R.S. Butola told reporters after a shareholders' meeting.
He said the company plans to speed up the Ennore project. "We're going to award the front-end engineering and design, or FEED, contract. It might take six-eight months" to give the contract, he added.
"We're looking for a partner who can assure us that we'll be able to identify some sources of LNG ... we're talking to two-three companies," Mr. Butola said.
India's state-run refining and marketing companies expect their borrowing to rise in coming months as the government hasn't yet released any cash subsidy for the April-June quarter. The government gives the subsidy to share a part of their revenue losses from selling some fuels at state-set prices.
Mr. Goyal said Indian Oil has about 700 billion rupees of outstanding debt, which may rise due to a drop in the Indian rupee's value and high oil prices. He said the refiner plans to raise its borrowing limit by October to 1.1 trillion rupees from 800 billion rupees now.