Mundra Port to start LNG terminal services ‘soon’

Petroleum gas services will also begin by year-end: official

Adani’s Mundra Port, the largest commercial port in the country, is likely to commission its Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG) import terminal soon, said a top official.

“The erection and physical construction of the LNG terminal with an annual capacity of 5 million tonnes is completed. Commissioning is expected in the short run,” said an official, who did not want to be named.

The LNG terminal is a joint venture project between Adani Enterprises Ltd. and Gujarat State Petroleum Corporation. The terminal will have receiving, storage and re-gasification facilities for LNG and will be connected to Gujarat State Petronet’s existing pipeline network at Anjaar, Gujarat.

“Besides, we are constructing a Liquefied Petroleum Gas (LPG) terminal with an annual capacity of 3.6 million tonnes. It would become operational by the year end,” he said.

In 2017, Mundra Port handled 121 million tonnes of cargo, including 4 million TEUs of containers, against 111 million tonnes a year earlier. In the same period, Deenadayal Port (formerly known as Kandla Port), located close to Mundra Port and the biggest sea port in the public sector, handled about 110 million tonnes of cargo.

‘Highest cargo’

Last year, Adani Ports and Special Economic Zone (APSEZ), which counts 9 ports including Mundra Port, handled 177 million tonnes compared with 164 million tonnes in the previous year.

“This is also the highest cargo handled by Mundra Port when compared with all the other ports in the country. We have been handling more than 100 million tonnes of cargo since financial year 2013-14. About 50% of volume consisted of containers, 18% liquid and 32% dry cargo such as coal, fertilizers, mineral, steel and agri products,” the official said.

On car exports, he said Maruti, the carmaker that used the port’s facilities the most, shipped 97,000 units in 2017-18 compared with 94,000 in the previous year.