GAIL (India) Ltd is in talks with US energy major Exxon for importing 5 million tons of liquefied natural gas at Dabhol, company chairman U D Choubey said on Wednesday.
"We have been mandated to source LNG for Dabhol power plant, for which we are in talks to import the fuel from Australia and Algeria," he told a news conference in New Delhi.
The company is talking to Exxon for importing LNG from its Gorgon project in Australia, and with Sonatrach for imports from Algeria, he said. GAIL director (business development) A K Purwaha said the LNG import and regassification facility adjacent to 2,150 MW Dabhol power plant in Maharashtra will be completed by November this year.
"Beginning
November, we can potentially import LNG at the terminal. But the imports are possible only during the November to April window in absence of a breakwater. The breakwater will be built by mid-2010 to make the terminal operational at its full capacity of 5 million tons," he said.
A breakwater -- a wall of rock piles in the sea -- helps prevent sea currents from destabilising during docking and unloading, particularly during monsoon period.
The Dabhol power plant needs 2.1 million tons of LNG for power generation and the remaining will be for merchant sales, Purwaha said.
The Chevron-operated Gorgon project in Australia is likely to commission two trains capable of producing a total of 10 million tons per annum of LNG by 2011. Chevron has 50 per cent stake in the project, while Exxon and Shell hold 25 per cent each.
