Ruling out any rethink on its Dahej liquefied natural gas terminal project, Petronet LNG Ltd has said gas will start flowing from Dahej by December 2003.
Company officials have said around 2.5 million tonnes of gas will be made available from the Dahej terminal in the first year itself.
"The Dahej liquefied natural gas project is well on schedule and gas will be available next year. The first ship will arrive in December 2003," Suresh Mathur, chief executive officer and managing director, Petronet LNG Ltd, said.
"The terminals of Petronet are located on the west coast and this has a great situational advantage because the transportation cost from Qatar to Dahej is minimum. So liquefied natural gas is still a viable option, particularly on the west coast despite the Reliance gas find," said Mathur.
Close to 60 per cent of the construction of the Dahej terminal was already complete, Mathur said.
Elaborating on the impact of the recent gas find on liquefied natural gas terminals, he said: "The gap between the demand and the supply of natural gas (as presented in the Hydrocarbon Vision 2025) is so huge that the country will need a mix of domestic gas, gas through import of pipelines and liquefied natural gas."
"Besides, there are many questions regarding the Reliance gas find that still need to be addressed, like when the gas will be made available, how much, where, and at what price."
Mathur pointed out that while gas at Dahej would start flowing within the next 12 months, the Reliance gas would not be made available before 2005.
He also ruled out reports that Petronet was finding it difficult to market liquefied natural gas in the country.
"Many commercial arrangements are already under discussion," he said.
The viability of many liquefied natural gas projects has been questioned after the Reliance gas find.
Experts in the industry say the gas price at the user's end will determine the viability of the any liquefied natural gas project.
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