GAIL India Ltd Will Import a Shipload of Natural Gas in Its Liquid Form

PTI reported that GAIL India Ltd will this week import a shipload of natural gas in its liquid form, called liquefied natural gas, for commissioning of the beleaguered Dabhol facility in Maharashtra.

Mr BC Tripathi CMD of GAIL said that “We will receive a LNG cargo from Gazprom (of Russia) on December 28th.”

Mr Tripathi said that the 5 million tonne a year LNG import plant, which was built about 15 years back, is likely to be commissioned by January end. If everything goes right, the plant will be commissioned by January end or early February.

GAIL had in March this year imported a shipload of LNG for commissioning the Dabhol unit. But the operations had to be aborted midway after two successive equipment failures.

He said that “Fenders have been replaced. Also, new bellows have been put. All repairs have been completed and we are in a position to bring a commissioning cargo.”

GAIL had in March bought a cargo from Statoil ASA’s Snohvit LNG plant in the Barents Sea off Norway for commissioning the plant and this time it has sourced it from Gazprom.

The company is looking to tie up to 2 million tonne of LNG for import at the nation’s third liquefied natural gas terminal. The terminal, which will take about 45 days to be fully commissioned, is expected to operate at less than 60 per cent of capacity in the absence of a breakwater, which guards ships against high tides.

In the absence of breakwater, the terminal may not be able to operate during the monsoon months beginning May end.

The construction of a breakwater is likely to be completed in 2013-14 after which the LNG terminal will become fully operational.

GAIL owns 31.52% stake in Ratnagiri Gas and Power Co Ltd the firm that owns the 1,967 MW power plant and adjacent 5 million tonne a year LNG import terminal.

The power plant and LNG terminal were originally built by US energy major Enron Corporation Ratnagiri Gas and Power Company took over the project in 2005 after the Enron’s bankruptcy. The LNG terminal was 80 per cent complete when RGPPL took over the plant.

Meanwhile, like GAIL, power generator NTPC too own 31.52% equity stake each in RGPPL, while 16.68% is with Maharashtra State Electricity Board. The remaining 20.28% stake is with financial institutions.