The largest liquefied natural gas importer in India, Petronet LNG Ltd, would invest Rs 2,306 crore to build a floating LNG receiving facility at Gopalpur port in Odisha. According to a tweet from the company, it has inked a contract with Gopalpur Ports Ltd. for the facility, which would have an annual capacity of around 4 million tonnes.

"We are pleased to announce that @PetronetLNGLtd is moving forward with establishing its presence on the east coast of India by signing a term sheet with Gopalpur Ports Limited on December 14, 2022 for the establishment and operation of LNG facility at Gopalpur port in Odisha," it stated.

The company's board had approved the expenditure last month for constructing the floating storage and regasification unit (FSRU)-based LNG terminal in Gopalpur.

LNG is natural gas that has undergone supercooling, becoming a liquid with 1/600th the volume of a gas. This facilitates simple ship transit. It is converted back into gas at the receiving facility before being delivered to manufacturers to make fertiliser, produce electricity at power plants, or be converted into compressed natural gas (CNG) for use in automobiles.

A combination of loan and equity would be used to fund Petronet's project in the Ganjam district of Odisha, which is anticipated to be operational by the end of 2025.

The Adani Group is constructing a facility at Dhamra port in collaboration with TotalEnergie of France, and Indian Oil Corporation (IOC) operates a 5 million tonnes per year facility at Ennore in Tamil Nadu. Gopalpur will be the third LNG terminal on the east coast.

The FSRU-based reception and regasification plan, according to Petronet management, has the option to be changed in the future to a land-based terminal, with an anticipated capacity of 5 million tonnes per year.

In order to address the rising gas demand in the country's eastern and central regions, the company intends to charter hire an FSRU for the Gopalpur terminal.

It now runs a 5 million tonnes plant in Kochi, Kerala, and a 17.5 million tonnes per year terminal at Dahej, Gujarat. The Dahej terminal is being upgraded to have a 22.5 million tonne capacity. Both are terminals located on land.

Petronet is building a new jetty that can also handle propane and ethane cargoes, as well as more LING storage tanks and bays for loading trucks, to add 5 million tonnes of additional capacity to Dahej, already the largest LNG import facility in the world.

Petronet is owned by the state-owned companies IOC, Oil and Natural Gas Corporation (ONGC), GAIL (India) Ltd., and Bharat Petroleum Corporation Ltd. (BPCL), which each control 12.5% of the company.