The 5 Mt/year (6.75 bcm/year) Dhamra LNG import terminal in Odisha (eastern India) developed by Adani Total Private Limited (ATPL) has received its first LNG cargo, paving the way for the start of the commissioning phase. Commercial operations are expected to start within 45 days (by the end of May 2023) with a limited capacity of up to 2.3 Mt/year (3.1 bcm/year) during the first year and a gradual ramp up to full capacity in the second year of operation.
ATPL is a 50:50 joint venture of the Indian conglomerate Adani Group and TotalEnergies, which is investing INR 60bn (US$730m) in the project. The Indian state-owned gas company GAIL and Indian Oil Corporation (IOC) have booked capacity under tolling agreements (3 Mt/year for IOC and 1.5 Mt/year for GAIL) and the imported LNG will be turned into CNG and cooking gas, used to produce fertilisers, or to fuel steel plants.
The project, whose capacity could later be doubled to 10 Mt/year, is expected to help India double the share of gas consumption from around 6% of the energy mix to 15% by 2030.