Gas importer Petronet has said announced that it is preparing to build a second terminal at the Kochi port in Kerala next year, and that it may construct a third at a later date. The company, which although it is privately owned, is promoted by state-controlled energy providers, made the announcement on the back of record quarterly results for the July through September period.
The new facility will allow the company to hold more than 15m tonnes at the site by 2015, it said, up from 10m tonnes – or 106% of capacity – at present. When the new terminal opens it will operate at just 20% capacity initially while infrastructural projects are completed.
Despite experiencing a 21% increase in profit in its last fiscal quarter, imports to the Kochi terminal fell flat.
Gas company GAIL India has said that it will be laying the pipelines that will connect the new terminal to its sources. The project will be undertaken in two phases, connecting both Bangalore and Mangalore’s infrastructure to the facility’s network.
PetrolWorld 01112012