Petronet has no plans to invest in LNG developers

India’s Petronet LNG Ltd has no plans to invest in LNG developers as the market is awash with cheaper fuel, indicating it may shelve plans to invest in Tellurian Inc’s US project. Addressing the  analyst conference on Thursday in New Delhi, V K Mishra. Director, Finance, said that one should be more concerned with LNG than investment. This is a non-binding memorandum of understanding and there is no commitment, Mishra said, adding that the company is in talks for new long-term LNG contract linked to spot prices. Spot LNG prices are currently high due to the surge in demand during winters but the prices would drop to $4-$6 per million British thermal units  after January, said Mishra. 

Petronet, the country’s top gas importer, has time until December-end to consider investing $2.5 billion for 5 million tonnes per annum (mtpa) of LNG in Tellurian’s Driftwood project to end-2020. To meet India’s growing gas demand, Petronet is looking at constructing a new LNG terminal on the country’s east coast and also plans to raise annual capacity at its Dahej terminal in western India to 19.5 million tonnes from 17.5 million tonnes.