India's Petronet to invest $53.3 billion in LNG and petrochem projects

The operator of the world's largest liquefied natural gas (LNG) import terminal in India will invest US $53.3 billion over the next five years, including in overseas supply sources, its CEO said on Thursday.

India’s state-controlled importer Petronet LNG also plans to add 9mn t/year of LNG capacity on the west and east coasts of the country in the next five years, apart from building storage tanks, a jetty and a petrochemical plant, its chief executive A. K. Singh said.

“We always evaluate good opportunities for overseas investment. If it is beneficial for the country (and) if we find it a better option, we will go for it,” Singh told the Press Trust of India news agency without identifying specific opportunities.

The company last year allowed a non-binding agreement to invest US $2.5 billion in US energy upstart Tellurian's LNG project in Louisiana in return for gas supplies for 40 years to lapse. Singh said LNG Petronet will continue to explore investing in overseas projects such as gas fields that feed into plants turning the fuel into LNG and liquefaction plants.

The company will spend $1.6 billion on a polypropylene complex, using imported propane as fuel. This investment comprises over a quarter of its proposed spending and marks its first foray into chemicals, in a move away from its core LNG business, Singh said.

Petronet has already started work to expand capacity at its Dahej facility on India’s west coast by 5million tonne/year to 22.5 million tonnes and set up a floating storage and regasification unit-based 4 million tonne/year facility at Gopalpur on the east coast. It is building a third jetty at Dahej, which will be used for imports of both LNG and propane and be able to accept Q-Max LNG carriers.