Petronet to take LNG to customer's doorstep

Petronet LNG is turning into a marketer of natural gas from being just an importer and regassifier of liquefied natural gas (LNG). The country’s biggest gas importer has launched a pilot project in Vadodara, Gujarat.

A hotel in Vadodara has agreed to source gas directly from the company’s terminal at Dahej, also in Gujarat. Under the pilot project, the hotel will put up the infrastructure such as a dispensing unit. The company has agreed to direct marketing of gas besides the quantity that is being marketed by the promoters —GAIL, Indian Oil Corporation and Bharat Petroleum Corporation. The company is also looking to expand the supply of gas by roads and is evaluating creation of small storage hubs along the highways. Though regassified LNG is considered expensive by fertilizer and power companies, there is no dearth of consumers in the industry who want to move away from more expensive fuel like diesel and naphtha.

Petronet may look at setting up a 1,200-Mw gas-based power plant with an estimated investment of Rs 4,000 crore. The proposed project will have an additional benefit of availability of “cold energy” extracted from LNG. The cold energy utilization will enable the company to raise the plant capacity and consequently reduce cost of generation.crackcrack