Philippines-based AG&P to develop LNG terminal at Karaikal Port

AG&P (Atlantic, Gulf and Pacific Company), a Philippines-based company at the forefront of providing end-to-end LNG delivery solutions, has signed an exclusive agreement with Karaikal Port Pvt Ltd (KPPL), to develop an LNG import terminal at the port. The project cost would be around $70-80 million.

The project will include sourcing and supplying LNG. AG&P has also executed an agreement with PPN Power to supply LNG.

The Karaikal Port is a deep-water facility located on the east coast of India.

An area within the existing breakwater of the port has been allocated to develop an LNG terminal which will serve power, industries and other customers in the region. The Port received its Environmental Approval (EA) for this development in May 2017.

G R K Reddy, chairman and managing director of KPPL said that the project will be ready in 18 months. Initial capacity would be around one million tonne which will be increased to 3 million tonnes over the years. Total investment would be around $70-80 million.

The development of AG&P's LNG import terminal at Karaikal Port will complement Indian Oil's under-construction LNG terminal at Ennore, 300 kilometres to the north. It will also provide wider gas accessibility to Puducherry and Tamil Nadu.

It will serve the heavily industrialised region of central Tamil Nadu which has major manufacturing clusters for the fertiliser, cement, steel, textile, leather, sugar and garment industries located within 300 kms catchment area. In addition, it will serve the gas-fired power industry as well as multiple demand centers via pipeline and city gas distribution network.

Karaikal will become a major gateway for distributing LNG, CNG and gas quickly and efficiently to customers throughout the region. Leveraging its standardised designs to building terminals AG&P not only eliminates expensive engineering costs, but significantly reduces construction time. This means the terminal will be up and running by mid-2019, said Mr Karthik Sathyamoorthy, President, LNG Marketing, AG&P.