In mid-June, Adani Total will begin operations at its LNG terminal in Dhamra

The Adani Group told Reuters that Adani Total Private Ltd will receive its first shipment of liquefied natural gas (LNG) in April at the Dhamra terminal on India’s east coast and expects to begin operations 30 to 45 days later.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s plan to boost natural gas’s share of the country’s energy mix from its current 6% to 15% depends on the opening of the 5 million tonne per annum (mtpa) LNG import terminal, which was delayed from September 2021.

Thanks to the Adani Group’s first LNG import facility, the Dhamra project, which is just the second import terminal, would expand gas use in eastern India. The remaining five import terminals are located on the nation’s western coast.

According to Adani Total, which French energy goliath TotalEnergies SE owns a 50% share in, the Dhamra terminal is projected to complete safety inspections and testing in February. Adani Total added that all required regulatory approvals have been obtained.

The port infrastructure at Dhamra is prepared to receive LNG cargoes at the Terminal in accordance with the contractual requirements, an Adani Group representative wrote in response to questions that were received late on Thursday.

According to statistics provided by analytics company Kpler, India’s imports fell for the second consecutive year in 2022 after increasing for the previous seven years. This is because India’s appetite was stifled by the high costs resulting from Europe’s hasty decision to replace its supply of Russian gas with gas, which drove up prices.

Despite this, imports rose in January for the first time in eight months as Asian LNG prices declined, per government data. The expansion of local gas delivery is expected to enhance the demand for LNG in the future years.

Last month, Adani Total’s CEO told Reuters that the business expects to receive 2.2 million metric tonnes of LNG at Dhamra in the year leading up to March 2024.

It has a 20-year take-or-pay agreement to offer regasification services for 1.5 mtpa for the government-run gas distributor GAIL (India) Ltd. and 3 mtpa for the state-run Indian Oil Corp., which produces 3 mtpa of LNG annually.