Petronet to set up LNG terminal at Gangavaram port
Indian state-owned oil and gas companies promoted Petronet LNG Ltd will set up the first liquefied natural gas (LNG) terminal on the country's east coast at Gangavaram port near Visakhapatnam in Andhra Pradesh, The Economic Times reports.
The first phase of the project will involve a capacity of 5 million metric tonne per annum (mmtpa) to come up at an investment of Rs 4,500 crore.
Petronet LNG is promoted by Indian state-owned oil and gas firms that include BPCL, GAIL, IOCL and ONGC.
This will be the third LNG terminal for Petronet LNG, which currently has two such terminals - one each at Dahej in Gujarat and Kochi in Kerala. While the Dahej terminal is operational with a capacity of 10 mmtpa, the Kochi terminal with a capacity of 5mmtpa is expected to be operational in another six months.
Petronet LNG has on Wednesday signed term sheet with Gangavaram Port to develop the project to be operational by 2016. The terminal at Gangavaram will comprise of facilities for receiving, storage and regassification of LNG with a provision for further expansion similar to Petronet LNG's flagship Dahej terminal.
The LNG terminal at Gangavaram is expected to help Andhra Pradesh meet the growing energy demand and also cater to the increasing gas requirements of eastern and central parts of the country. In a joint statement, Petronet and Gangavaram said at full operational capacity the terminal at Gangavaram is expected to contribute over Rs 2,000 crore at value added tax to AP government.
Dr Balyan, MD & CEO of Petronet LNG, said the construction work on the terminal will start within a year so as to make the project ready to commence operations by 2016. He said the project will contribute to the economic development of the region by providing additional and low cost alternate fuel to the refinery, power, fertilizer, transport and other sectors, which in turn will result in substantial downstream investments in these sectors.
DVS Raju, CMD of Gangavaram Port, viewed that developing LNG terminal at Gangavaram inches the port closer to their vision to see it as truly modern, multi-purpose and environment friendly port.