Petronet LNG to resume normal ops from Dahej this week

Petronet LNG Ltd, the nation's largest liquefied natural gas importer, will resume normal gas supplies by Thursday after it advanced restart of its Dahej terminal in Gujarat to ensure gas reaches critical industries. Petronet had on January 7 shut down its Dahej LNG terminal to hook up new facilities that would double import capacity to 10 million tonnes. The restart of the terminal was scheduled on January 13, but the company restarted the terminal on January 9.

"Our terminal now is 10 million tonnes," a company official said.

The company advanced the restart after natural gas production from ONGC's Western Offshore field was shut due to a strike by the state-run firm's executives. "In the first 12 hours from resuming operations at 1800 hours on January 9, Petronet supplied seven million standard cubic meter of gas. From the next day, the supplies went up to 18 million standard cubic metres per day," he said. The strike by the oil executives has resulted in a shutdown of ONGC's South Bassein and its satellite fields in the Western Offshore and privately operated Panna Mukta and Tapti Fields. South Bassein produces 30.5 mmscmd and Panna Mukta and Tapti another 15-16 mmscmd.

 

The official said since the terminal was originally scheduled to be shut from January 7-12, it had scheduled arrival of new LNG cargoes from January 15 and once they come the gas supplies from Dahej would rise to 24.7 mmscmd.

"We are currently supplying gas that we had in our tanks before the shutdown happened. By tomorrow, we would be able to start at the normal rate but it all depends on the evacuation of the fuel by gas transporter GAIL," he said. Dahej is connected to both GAIL and Gujarat State Petroleum Corp's pipeline networks but for the gas to reach critical consumers in power and fertiliser sector, the state-run firm GAIL has to make its pipeline fully ready to receive the gas.

GAIL's main trunk pipeline, connecting the gas sources in the west to consumption centres in the north, had been shut to the officers strike in the company and is now being revived. It is likely to reach its full capacity this evening or tomorrow.