Mumbai Port Trust Plans LNG Terminal

Mumbai Port Trust is planning to develop an LNG terminal on the outskirts of the city to complement its liquid cargo handling business and earn additional revenue, according to Financial Express newspaper.

It plans to float a request for qualification (RFQ) to invite energy companies to build the terminal, which will come up near Uran, around 50 km from Mumbai.

“The planned LNG terminal with floating storage and re-gasification unit will be able to handle 5 million tonne (mt) of LNG every year,” Ravi Parmar, chairman of Mumbai Port Trust, told Financial Express.

Mumbai Port Trust plans to connect the terminal to the national pipeline grid so that the natural gas can be transported all the way up to the state of Haryana, he added.

Parmar expects Mumbai Port Trust to complete the process of awarding the project by March 2015, after which it is estimated to take two years for construction.

At present, there are four LNG terminals that have been commissioned in India — at Dahej and Hazira in Gujarat, Kochi in Kerala, and Dabhol in Maharashtra — with a total capacity of 22 million tonne per annum (mtpa). The ministry’s 2013-14 annual report states that the capacity of these four existing terminals is likely to be increased further to 32.5 mtpa by 2016-17.