India's Essar Plans Four LNG Terminals
Ruias-owned Essar Ports Ltd is exploring the possibility of setting up four Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG) terminals in joint ventures with other companies, reported Economic Times.
Rajiv Agarwal, managing director and chief executive of Essar Ports, told PTI at a company-run facility here. He said the company is looking at a cluster of small ports which will be closer to potential customers, adding that Hazira and Salaya, where it already operates ports, could be the sites where it can set up the LNG terminals.
The company has interests in ports and shipping, has identified land on both the coasts and plans to come up with two terminals in the first phase and two in second phase, with capacities ranging from 2.5 million tonnes per annum (mtpa) to 5 mtpa.
The move is being considered partly as a hedge against the low iron ore exports due to high prices resulting in lower handling capacities.
Essar Vizag Terminals Limited (EVTL) took over the project in May 2015 on a Design-Build-Finance-Operate-Transfer (DBFOT) basis for a period of 30 years. Since then, the company has ramped up the iron ore loading capacity of the terminal from 25,000 TPD (tonnes per day) to 70,000 TPD.
After the completion of the upgradation-cum-modernisation project, the loading capacity will increase to 120,000 TPD, and the facility will be able to berth vessels up to 200,000 DWT, with a draft of 18 metres, on the outer harbour.
Essar Ports specialises in development and operations of ports and terminals for handling liquid, dry bulk, break bulk and general cargo. It is one of the largest private sector port companies in India in terms of capacity and throughput.
