Engie has sold its entire 10% stake in Petronet LNG, India's largest importer of LNG, for Rs 3,165 crore (US$492m). The sale was carried out in an open market transaction, with part of the stake acquired by Citigroup Global Markets Mauritius and by existing institutional shareholder Stichting Depositary.
Petronet LNG's other important shareholders are Explorer Oil & Natural Gas Corp. (12.5%), Bharat Petroleum Corp. (12.5%), Indian Oil Corp. (12.5%) and GAIL India Ltd. (12.5%). Petronet handles around 80% of India's LNG imports and is the world's 4th largest importer of LNG. It operates the 20 bcm/year Dahej LNG terminal and the 6.7 bcm/year Kochi LNG terminal in India and plans to boost regasification capacities in the country by expanding Dahej LNG (+3.4 bcm/year as of 2020) and by developing a 6.7 bcm/year terminal in Gangavaram. Petronet LNG is also involved in LNG terminal projects in Bangladesh and in Sri Lanka.
In May 2017, Engie decided to exit the Kakinada LNG project in Andhra Pradesh (India), in which it held 26% each, due to concerns about demand for imported gas in India.