Petronet LNG Ltd plans to set up a floating LNG terminal in Andaman and Nicobar Islands that will be utilised to feed city gas distribution business of selling CNG to automobiles and piped cooking gas to households in the island.

Petronet has made an application to sector regulator Petroleum and Natural Gas Regulatory Board for a city gas licence.

In its application Petronet said NTPC Vidyut Vyapar Nigam Ltd is looking at setting up a 50 MW gas-based power plant in Hope Town in South Andaman and plans to appoint a gas supplier for the same.

“Petronet (has) proposed to set up an Floating Storage Regasification Unit (FSRU) to regasify LNG to supply gas to the power plant. This would (also) be the source for the supply of gas to city gas distribution network at Port Blair,” the company said in the application.

Gas will be imported in its liquid form ( liquefied natural gas) from international suppliers. It will be converted back into its gaseous state at an FSRU at the high-sea. “Gas shall be sourced from long term or spot LNG market,” Petronet said.

The company currently operates a 15-million-tonnes-a-year LNG import terminal at Dahej in Gujarat and has another 5 million tonnes a year unit at Kochi in Kerala.

Petronet said Port Blair has a population of around 1.5 lakh made up to some 39,000 households. Port Blair has 1.2 lakh vehicles with majority 86,402 being two-wheelers.

Petronet assessed the city’s gas demand by 2027 at 0.077 million standard cubic metres per day, more than half of which will come from the use of CNG in transport.

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