India’s September LNG imports up

India saw an increase in liquefied natural gas (LNG) imports during the month of September 2020.

The oil ministry’s Petroleum Planning and Analysis Cell notes that LNG imports reached 2.97 billion cubic meters in September. This is a 6.2 per cent increase over the 2.79 billion cubic meters of LNG imported in September 2019.

Month-on-month, India’s LNG imports remained flat for the second month in a row, as August imports were at 2.97 billion cubic meters of the chilled fuel.

For the year until September, India imported a total of 15.92 billion cubic meters of LNG. This is 3 per cent below 16.42 billion cubic meters imported during the corresponding period last year.

The price of imports slipped. September 2020 imports are valued at $0.7 billion, down from $0.8 billion India paid in September 2019.

Cumulative imports for the year so far are valued at $3.2 billion, down from $4.7 billion in the corresponding period in 2019.

Looking at India’s domestic natural gas production, it dropped 10.7 per cent last month to 2.29 billion cubic meters.

India currently imports chilled fuel via six LNG import terminals with a combined capacity of 42.5 million tonnes.

According to PPAC, utilization of these facilities continues to pick up. Petronet LNG’s Dahej LNG terminal operated at 87.67 per cent capacity.

PPAC data shows that Shell’s 5 mtpa Hazira LNG terminal operated at 95.34 per cent capacity while the Dabhol LNG facility operated at 25.11 per cent.

Kochi LNG facility was at 14.66 per cent, Indian Oil’s Ennore facility operated at 10.2 per cent while GSPC’s Mundra plant operated at 33.9 per cent capacity.