BPCL, ONGC and Mitsui's Rs 5,000 crore LNG terminal on the back burner

With Kochi terminal remaining under-utilised, fate of project remains uncertain

Two years after Oil and Natural Gas Corporation (ONGC), with its consortium partners Bharat Petroleum Corporation Limited (BPCL) and Japanese conglomerate Mitsui, signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) to set up a regasification liquefied natural gas (LNG) terminal at New Mangalore Port, the project is again on the back burner.

In March 2013, the consortium had signed the MoU to carry out a feasibility study for a terminal with 2-3 million tonnes per annum (mtpa) capacity, expandable to five mtpa.

“Kochi LNG terminal still remains under-utilised. So we are giving it a serious thought whether a new Rs 5,000-crore LNG terminal is viable,” said a BPCL official on condition of anonymity. Petronet LNG is mainly involved in importing LNG and setting up and running terminals.

It is a venture jointly promoted by GAIL India, ONGC, IndianOil Corporation and BPCL.

All the partners put together hold a 50 per cent stake in Petronet LNG.

Petronet LNG’s Kochi terminal, commissioned in August 2013, operated at a capacity utilisation of 2.1 per cent in 2014-15.

The company said in its annual report, “The Kochi terminal continued to operate at low loads due to lack of evacuation pipelines with no substantial progress in Phase II pipelines work. There are very few customers being serviced as of now with Phase I of the pipeline network is limited to 45 kms. Until Phase II of the pipeline is completed, the terminal capacity will continue to be grossly under-utilised.”

An ONGC official declined to comment, saying there is no update to share.

“We are also thinking if we should go for a floating storage and regasification unit (FSRU) or the terminal in Mangaluru,” the BPCL official added. FSRUs are similar to land-based LNG terminals.

Oil marketing and refining major BPCL had originally planned to bring in natural gas from its Rovuma Basin in Mozambique to Mangaluru, but the consortium partners of Bharat Petro Resources (BPRL), the upstream arm of BPCL, tied up most of the gas with customers in Asia, except from India.

“International players are giving the consortium a better price and we are going with the consortium’s decision on sale of gas,” said a BPCL executive.

BPRL, along with its consortium, had formed marketing teams in 2012 to talk to companies in Japan, China and Thailand.

These countries agreed to pay more for gas.

Besides, the players need to maximise their revenue as they plan to set up two LNG trains.

“Though there is LNG demand in Mangaluru and its vicinity, the viability of the terminal depends on the pipeline connectivity,” said the BPCL official. Mangaluru stations Mangalore Refinery and Petrochemicals, a subsidiary of ONGC.