Petronet Cuts Output on Equipment Breakdown at Indian Terminal
Petronet LNG Ltd., India's biggest buyer of liquefied natural gas, has cut production by 13 percent because of equipment breakdown at its western India import terminal. Petronet declared force majeure on its customers GAIL (India) Ltd., Indian Oil Corp. and Bharat Petroleum Corp. after reducing output by 3 million cubic meters a day from 23.9 million cubic meters a day, Managing Director Prosad Dasgupta said today. One of the five pumps at its Dahej terminal in the state of Gujarat stopped working in mid-July, he said. Four other pumps are processing the fuel for delivery to customers, he said. The company expects to resume full supplies to customers by the end of August after completing repairs, Dasgupta said in a telephone interview from New Delhi. The shutdown hasn't affected LNG imports, he said. ``We're not canceling any imports though there is delay in processing,'' he said. The company is currently receiving about 6.5 million metric tons a year of LNG from Qatar under multiyear contracts. LNG is gas chilled to liquid form, reducing it to one-six- hundredth of its original volume for transport by tanker to destinations not connected by pipeline.
