Petronet board approves additional capacity at Kochi

Nov. 28, 2011
Regasification capacity at Petronet LNG Ltd.’s Kochi LNG terminal has been approved for expansion to 5 million tonnes/year from the originally planned 2.5 million tpy, the company reported.

Regasification capacity at Petronet LNG Ltd.’s Kochi LNG terminal has been approved for expansion to 5 million tonnes/year from the originally planned 2.5 million tpy, the company reported.

The first 2.5 million tpy has been on track to open early next year. Mechanical completion of the entire capacity, says the company on its website, “is expected to be commissioned” by 2013. The terminal is under construction at Puthuvypu, north of Kochi, on India’s southwest coastline.

Petronet is a consortium consisting of state-owned GAIL (India) Ltd., ONGC, Indian Oil Corp., and Bharat Petroleum Corp. Ltd.

Local media have said the project would supply LNG to Karnataka and Tamil Nadu states and downstream industries in Kerala such as NTPC power plant at Kayamkulam and FACT, Kalamassery.

GAIL is reported to be laying gas distribution pipelines to connect industrial consumers in Kerala and later in Bangalore and Mangalore.

Contact Warren R. True at [email protected].