Adani Total's Dhamra LNG terminal expansion not imminent: CEO Lamba

Lamba said the 5 million tons per annum (mtpa) LNG terminal on India's east coast operated at an average utilisation rate of 25 per cent in 2024

India's Adani Total has yet to conduct feasibility studies to double the capacity of its LNG terminal in Dhamra, Chief Executive Surjeet Singh Lamba told Reuters on Thursday, a year after the joint venture announced it was in the early stages of planning a possible expansion.

Lamba said the 5 million tons per annum (mtpa) LNG terminal on India's east coast, in which French energy giant TotalEnergies SE has a 50 per cent stake alongside the Adani Group, operated at an average utilisation rate of 25 per cent in 2024.

Utilisation has since risen to about 50 per cent, the CEO said. Usage has been low because the terminal has been unable to attract new customers after locking state-run firms Indian Oil Corp, and GAIL (India) Ltd into 20-year take-or-pay contracts in 2023.

Lamba said the expansion was contingent on demand, and when asked about the potential for growth in LNG demand, he pointed to Prime Minister Narendra Modi's target to more than double the share of natural gas to 15 per cent of India's energy mix by 2030.

"It depends upon the requirement of the users, as in, when we get some business potential," he said.

"Once feasibilty (study) is done, only then we will be able to comment on that (expansion)," Lamba told Reuters on the sidelines of the India Energy Week.

He did not comment on any financing plans.

TotalEnergies said last year it would pause investing in the Adani Group after US prosecutors accused officials from the conglomerate, including its billionaire Chairman Gautam Adani, of corruption.