Singapore's LNG Alliance Plans India Investment
Singapore’s LNG Alliance is looking to expand its footprint in the Indian natural gas and LNG space and will be setting up an office in the southern Indian city of Chennai, it said on August 31 in a statement.
“The team at the Chennai office will assist the company in forging ahead with the development of India’s virtual gas pipelines, downstream gas market integration, and LNG bunkering possibilities,” it said.
LNG Alliance said it plans to develop an end-to-end solution for India, using its strategic ownership positions in low-cost LNG supply at around $4/mn Btu on a long-term basis to meet India’s LNG demand.
“We are now in a position to deliver LNG thru virtual pipelines, which can be a reliable source for city gas distribution, for industrial users and LNG/CNG based fuel stations. For the first time in the energy history of India, we can replace coal with natural gas for power generation,” said Cheryl Goh, LNG Alliance’s executive director. “The regasified LNG, tied together with last-mile gas pipeline or virtual pipeline connectivity, could revive more than 10 GW of idle gas-based power plants in India.”
The company said it is also working with potential third-party usage of existing terminals to maximise their utilisation. LNG Alliance is also setting up two LNG bunkering hubs – one on the east coast and one on the west. At the same time, LNG Alliance has lined up potential investors who have expressed interest in India’s virtual pipeline infrastructure, it said.
“With these developments, we aim to create price transparency within the gas market on an open platform and discover an effective mechanism to accelerate the growth of city gas distribution,” said Muthu Chezhian, the CEO of LNG Alliance. “There is vast potential for the gas and energy market in India to grow exponentially. LNG as a greener and economic automotive fuel for medium and heavy commercial vehicles reduces fuel cost by about 25% and can reduce the national dependence of imported oil by 30%.”
“We are also in talks about a potential investment in an east coast LNG terminal in India. We are working closely with our local partners in India, for establishing LNG fuel stations. This enables us to achieve common goals and co-create success for our regional customers by adapting a professional value creation approach and bringing affordable LNG to the communities in need,” said Muthu Chezhian, the CEO of LNG Alliance.
LNG Alliance is setting up an office base in Chennai for managing south India’s LNG/gas downstream aggregation and virtual pipelines venture. As the next stage of expansion, the company is also looking into a new project office in Chattogram, Bangladesh, aligned with its plan for developing an onshore LNG terminal.