Ahmedabad, 3 December 2014

The biggest shipment of liquefied natural gas(LNG) by ship in India was received at Dahej LNG Terminal in Gujarat yesterday from Ras-Laffan, Qatar.

A Q-Max LNG vessel, the largest LNG carrier in its class with capacity of 261,000 cbm arrived at Dahej LNG Terminal of Petronet LNG Ltd in Gujarat from Ras-Laffan, Qatar.

Petronet had established its first LNG receiving and regasification terminal at Dahej and has set another benchmark by unloading the vessel at the facility.

The terminal had been expanded recently to include a second LNG jetty and accommodate larger vessels up to Q-Max size LNG vessels.

Earlier in 2013, Petronet had successfully unloaded 1000th cargo at Dahej in a short span of about 9 years.

“We are glad to receive the first Q-Max LNG vessel, one of the biggest size LNG ships available today, at Dahej Terminal and expect to receive more such cargoes in the future. Petronet also look forward to further strengthening the time proven and cordial bilateral trade relationship between Qatar and India,” said Dr. A K Balyan, MD & CEO, Petronet LNG Limited.

RasGas and Petronet signed the first sales and purchase agreement (SPA) in 2004 for 7.5 million metric tonnes per annum (MMTA) of LNG. The global energy supplier currently makes regular deliveries to Petronet’s Dahej and Kochi Terminals in India.

After South Korea, India is RasGas’ largest recipient of LNG by volume. RasGas will load its thousandth cargo destined to Dahej in mid-December of this year.

“The safe berthing and unloading of the Mekaines Q-Max vessel at Dahej is another significant milestone to highlight relationship between RasGas and Petronet. As the largest single supplier of LNG to India, RasGas stands ready to assist Petronet in meeting India’s growing demand for eco-friendly fuel. The delivery of the Q-Max cargo to Dahej Terminal demonstrates our flexibility in meeting our long-standing customer’s needs,” said Khalid Sultan R. Al Kuwari, RasGas’ Chief Marketing and Shipping Officer.

Apart from the 10 MMTPA Dahej Terminal, Petronet also operates the 5 MMTPA Kochi terminal in Kerala, which was commissioned in September last year. The company meets about 30 per cent of India’s gas demand. The Dahej terminal is being further expanded to 15 MMTPA.