Petronet expects to launch additional Dahej LNG capacity by June

of 5 mtpa, but it could be “maybe 40-50 percent, also that will be good enough,” he said.

“But we will have more capacity to regas more spot volumes coming in the future because in future the growth is already there, more terminals are also coming, but at the same time more long-term contracts have been signed,” Mishra said.

“So, I think there is a chance that more cargoes will come to our Dahej terminal in the future,” he said.

Utilization depends on spot prices

Asked whether the utilization for the expanded capacity could be around 30-40 percent for fiscal 2026 and 60-70 percent for fiscal 2027, Mishra said that it “may happen” like that.

Vivek Mittal, Petronet’s VP of marketing, added that that this is also a “subject of what the international spot prices are.”

“As you know Indian market is very, very price sensitive. So, like last summer, we saw the prices softening, there was a lot of utilization, and we were doing more than 109-110 percent of our capacity,” he said.

“If we achieve that kind of prices, which is expected with the coming of new liquefaction plants specifically in the latter half of this year, so if prices soften then utilization level will of course increase,” he said.

“So, let us hope that the prices soften which will help us in utilization and increasing share of gas in India’s energy basket,” Mittal said.

Petronet’s promoters are Bharat Petroleum (BPCL), GAIL, Indian Oil, and ONGC.

The company has been importing LNG from Qatar under a long-term deal since 2004.

Last year, state-owned LNG giant QatarEnergy signed a new 20-year long-term contract with Petronet for around 7.5 mtpa of LNG.

Petronet also has a long-term SPA with US energy giant ExxonMobil for volumes from the Gorgon LNG project in Australia.