State-owned Oil and Natural Gas Corporation (ONGC) plans to set up mini-LNG plants to capture natural gas from wells in areas not connected to pipelines. The firm has identified five locations in Andhra Pradesh, Jharkhand, and Gujarat to set up mini plants at wellheads that will convert natural gas extracted from underground into liquefied natural gas (LNG) by cooling it to minus 160 degrees Celsius.
The LNG will then be loaded onto cryogenic trucks and transported to the nearest pipeline, where it will be reconverted to gas and pumped into the network for supply to users such as power plants, fertilizer units, and city gas distributors.
According to the tender, ONGC has invited bids from manufacturers and service providers to tap stranded natural gas. The proposed mini-LNG plants are to be located at two sites in Rajahmundry, Andhra Pradesh, and one each in Ankleshwar, Gujarat; Bokaro, Jharkhand; and Cambay, Gujarat.
ONGC noted in the tender document that while India has a well-connected pipeline network, significant volumes of stranded gas remain untapped. These volumes, ranging from 5,000 to 50,000 standard cubic meters per day, can be produced for up to five years and used to meet local demand.
The tender calls for bids to “set up small-scale LNG plants on a BOO (build, own, and operate) basis to produce LNG, transport it by cascades/tankers within a 250 km radius, re-gasify it, and inject it into existing gas distribution grids or supply it directly to bulk consumers.”
India produces over 90 million standard cubic meters per day of natural gas, which is used for electricity generation, fertilizer production, CNG for vehicles, and cooking gas for households. However, domestic production only meets around half of the demand.
ONGC, India’s largest oil and gas producer, has been investing heavily to increase production and reduce the country’s reliance on imports. Before this tender, ONGC partnered with Indian Oil Corporation (IOC) to set up a small-scale LNG plant near its Hatta gas field in Madhya Pradesh, with an initial capacity of 32-35 tonnes and 45,000 standard cubic meters of gas per day.
Earlier this year, GAIL (India) Ltd also announced plans to set up a small-scale LNG plant at its Vijaipur LPG unit in Madhya Pradesh. Officials noted that ONGC has over 100 wells across the country with gas volumes too small to justify pipeline construction, and small LNG plants could help tap this resource, boosting domestic production.
