Mumbai: Royal Dutch Shell, is planning to expand its gas marketing business in India, said Shaleen Sharma, the company’s head of upstream development in India.
Sharma, who spoke on the sidelines of an energy conference in Mumbai, said the downstream segment is the most attractive one currently in the gas market and the company plans to supply natural gas directly to buyers including power plants, fertilizer and petrochemical units and city gas distributors.
“Indian LNG market is in good shape. That is the future. There are some new initiatives going on to see how we can access new downstream markets,” said Sharma, adding that Shell has set up a team in Singapore to boost the India gas market.
Shell operates Hazira LNG Ltd, a five million tonnes per annum liquefied natural gas (LNG) import facility at Hazira, Gujarat. The company plans to double the capacity to 10 million tonnes a year, Reuters had reported on 31 March.
Shell Gas B.V., a Royal Dutch Shell Plc unit, owns a 74% stake in the terminal while Total Gaz Electricite France, a unit of Total SA, holds the balance.
Sharma also said that the company has dissolved the joint venture for an LNG terminal that it was planning with its consortium partners at Kakinada, Andhra Pradesh.
“That was a joint venture with a number of companies including Gail. But we very recently expressed that we cannot carry on with that. This is due to lack of a secure market. We need some surety on the off-take. The joint venture agreement is no longer there,” added Sharma.
The A.P Gas Distribution Corporation Limited (APGDC), Gas Authority of India Limited (GAIL) and Shell and Engie Global LNG had in September 2015 signed two joint venture agreements for the establishment of an LNG Floating Storage and Re-gasification Unit (FSRU) at Kakinada deepwater port.
Source: livemint.com