Petronet LNG Expects To Double Gas Volumes At Kochi

Petronet LNG Ltd (PLL) is betting big on the completion of gas pipelines to Mangaluru from its Kochi terminal to enhance its business volumes. The connectivity to Mangaluru is to be completed by the Gas Authority of India Ltd (GAIL) any time soon. This is expected to double PLL’s capacity utilisation to 40-45 per cent from the current 20 per cent, said Yogananada Reddy, Chief General Manager and Vice President, PLL, Kochi terminal.

The ₹4,700-crore terminal in Kochi was languishing for a long time after its commissioning in 2013 and, it was last year, that the five-million tonne terminal operated at 20 per cent growth in capacity and achieved sales of one million tonnes per annum. Reddy told BusinessLine that Mangalore Chemicals and Fertilisers has evinced interest in availing gas from Kochi once the 444-km pipelines are ready.

Since Managaluru is a good consumption point for natural gas, he said companies such as MRPL, ONGC Mangalore Petrochemiclas Ltd (OMPL) and several other customers can take sizeable quantity of gas to meet their production requirements. However, the quantity of gas to be sold will be decided by GAIL, which is heading the marketing part.