BW LPG Ltd, the world's top owner and operator of LPG vessels, including Very Large Gas Carriers (VLGCs), will start test piling in February on what would be the largest liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) on shore import terminal in partnership with Confidence Petroleum India Ltd and Ganesh Benzoplast Ltd at state-owned Jawaharlal Nehru Port near Mumbai, a top official has said. 

The consortium will utilise the LPG jetty run by state-owned Bharat Petroleum Corporation Ltd (BPCL) at J N Port for importing LPG. 

“BPCL has one unloading arm at the jetty, and we will be installing two of our own unloading arms along with laying the pipelines to the storage tanks to be constructed at the location of Ganesh Benzoplast’s tank farm in J N Port,” Sorensen said. 

BW Confidence Enterprise Pvt Ltd is an equal joint venture formed by Oslo and New York-listed BW LPG and Mumbai-listed Confidence Petroleum India to explore investment opportunities in onshore LPG import infrastructure. The JV will collaborate with BW LPG’s trading division as well as its India subsidiary, BW Product Services and BW LPG India respectively, to source and deliver LPG from the international markets to meet Confidence Petroleum and India’s growing LPG import needs. 

“There will be a wave of new LPG export volumes which can be assuredly available for the Indian market. That’s in many ways; the rates and the timing is very good. I think the LPG story in India is very exciting. It has been a fantastic journey for BW LPG over the last 7-10 years,” he said. 

Sorensen emphasised the importance of developing infrastructure, including deepening the drafts at ports located on India’s Western Coast, to help dock bigger ships carrying LPG cargo. 

“Deep draft jetties, storage tanks and terminals to handle bigger volumes are a natural consequence to grow from mid-size vessels to VLGCs,” he pointed out, adding that VLGCs would be the “workhorse for Indian LPG imports” in the future. 

“Because of infrastructure bottlenecks, more of the mid-sized, smaller ships have been carrying LPG from the Middle East to India so far. But with new terminals, including the one that we are planning at J N Port, more and more of LPG would be carried on VLGCs which is more efficient and brings down the costs of landed LPG and is also an important part of growing the volumes and making LPG competitive and available for the Indian market,” he added. 

BW LPG, according to Sorensen, invested in Confidence Petroleum to support its growth plans. 

“The growth plans are now being rolled out and we had meetings to go through the plans they have for expansion. This is also an important part because of the link to the terminal project that we have together with Confidence Petroleum and Ganesh Benzoplast. Confidence will take part of the base capacity in the terminal, and the way we see Confidence Petroleum, they have this very good growth trajectory which can be developed since they are expanding quite rapidly on infrastructure in their niche markets. This goes according to plan and it’s important to follow the growth in the Indian market so that you can position Confidence Petroleum also for the future,” he said. 

After investing in Confidence Petroleum, BW LPG has been working closely with the Indian company to streamline the operations. 

“Our trading arm is also working closely with Confidence Petroleum in expanding their access to LPG supply sources, primarily from the Middle East, to ensure and support the growth that we are planning for their volumes,” Sorensen added.