Oil Firm HPCL Set to Launch LNG Import Terminal

New Delhi: Hindustan Petroleum Corporation Limited (HPCL), a state-owned Indian company, plans to commission its new LNG import terminal—the sixth in India between December and January. Sources indicate that HPCL is in discussions with potential long-term LNG suppliers. The company has developed an LNG import terminal at Chhara, located in Gujarat State on India's west coast.

The terminal is designed to have a re-gasification capacity of 5 million metric tons per annum (mmtpa) and includes an option for expansion to 10 mmtpa.

HPCL is now looking for a cargo to commission the new facility in December or January, after failing to do so in April, due to bad weather. The firm wants to use the three-month window of fair weather after the monsoon season ends, according to Reuters’s sources. This window begins in November.

HPCL has also held talks with potential suppliers and has seen “a good response” to an expression of interest it has issued seeking term LNG supply for 15 years, as per the sources.

The Indian state firm wants to buy one LNG cargo per month starting in late 2026 or early 2027. India plans to ramp up LNG imports and the use of natural gas as a fuel cleaner than coal and needed in many industrial processes. For Indian firms, securing LNG supply is crucial as consumption of natural gas in industrial activities is set to soar.

India’s industry expansion and rising oil refining to meet higher fuel demand are set to drive a tripling of the country’s natural gas consumption by 2050, the U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) said earlier this year.