The first Qatari LNG cargo has been delivered to the 5 Mt/year (6.75 bcm/year) Ennore LNG terminal, located near Chennai in Tamil Nadu (India). Owned and operated by the state-owned Indian Oil Corporation (IOC), the project was commissioned in late February 2019 and is entering the commercial operations stage. The construction of the Rs 5,150 crore (US$800m) terminal started in August 2015. Ennore LNG is India's fifth operational LNG terminal and the first LNG terminal on the east coast. It is expected to provide gas to domestic customers such as Chennai Petroleum Corporation, Madras Fertilizers and Manali Petrochemicals.
In addition to the Ennore terminal, two other projects located in Jaigarh and Mundra are due to be commissioned shortly. The projects will help India meet its objective of reaching a domestic regasification capacity of 56.5 Mt/year by 2025, from 30 Mt/year in 2017. With the commissioning of the 5 Mt/year Mundra Port terminal by Adani Group in October 2018 and the Ennore LNG terminal, the country's regasification capacity currently stands at 40 Mt/year.
India's LNG imports started in 2004 and covered 44% of the domestic gas consumption as of 2017. Most of them came from Qatar (54% in 2017) and other key suppliers include Nigeria (16%) and Australia (8%).