OREANDA-NEWS. September 9, 2011. Liquified Natural Gas major Petronet LNG has said that it will decide on the location of the third LNG terminal on the eastern coast by the end of this year.

“We will decide the location of the project by the end of this year,” said A K Balyan, managing director and chief executive officer, Petronet LNG. According to him, the possible location in the eastern region are from the region between Krishnapatanam and Paradip — which are Machalipatanam, Kakinada, Gangavaram, Gopalpur, Dhamra and Paradip.
 
The terminal will have a capacity of 5 million tonnes per annum and may be expanded later. The firm currently has a terminal at Dahej and one in Kochi, which will be commissioned by November-December next year, he said, while speaking on the sidelines of a Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FICCI) meet here on Thursday. It is also planning to expand the Dahej terminal from the current 10 MT to 15 MT.

Meanwhile, the firm will finalise its foray into the power sector within two to three months. The project will be set up in joint venture with the Gujarat State Petronet Ltd (GSPL) in Gujarat. “Currently, we are waiting for a power-purchase agreement for at least one-third of the proposed capacity before the board goes ahead with the project,” said A K Balyan, managing director and chief executive officer, Petronet LNG. The project is expected to cost about Rs 4,200-crore and the company is already reported to have acquired 50-hectares of land near Dahej for this.

The plant will be of 1200 mega watt and the price of power from it would be comparable to that of thermal plants, ranging about Rs 4.5 per unit. “The project will be set up in three phases of 370-MW each,” he added.