GAIL to stop LNG imports at Dabhol till October

State-owned gas utility GAIL India Ltd will stop LNG imports at the Dabhol terminal from this month as the onset of monsoon will make operations difficult without a breakwater. Dabhol terminal in Ratnagiri district of Maharashtra cannot operate during monsoon in absence of a breakwater which is a massive wall built out into the sea to protect a ship from the force of waves.

GAIL received the last liquefied natural gas (LNG) shipment from Spain’s Gas Natural at Dabhol last week, company officials said. The LNG cargo was bought at a price of around USD 7.50 per million British thermal unit. After this, GAIL will stop taking deliveries as monsoon season sets in, said an said, adding that Dabhol will resume imports in October. The official said the 5 million tons a year Dabhol LNG terminal on the northwest coast of India was only operating at about half its capacity. 

The terminal cannot receive shipments in the choppy monsoon seas in the absence of a breakwater, so it can currently import a maximum of only 2.25 million tons a year.