Shell plans to build Indian LNG truck facility

That’s according to Steve Hill, executive vice president at Shell Energy, who spoke to Reuters about the energy giant’s future plans for the terminal, on India’s west coast.

“[The Facility] has a big potential growth … in India because energy supply reliability is a big issue in India,” he said at a media briefing in Singapore.

“There hasn’t been as much supply infrastructure in place, but some of the import terminals are now putting the truck loading facilities in place so that’s opening up that option.”

Industrial demand

Mr Hill said that the facility could be ready as early as next year and will be used to supply industrial demand through trucking in places that can’t access supply from the grid.

LNG trucking works well for locations off-grid, with China and India the two obvious markets, he added.

In its latest annual LNG outlook, Shell said that the market has continued to defy expectations of many market observers, with demand growing by 29 million tonnes to 293 million tonnes in 2017.

In 2017, the number of LNG spot cargoes sold reached 1,100 for the first time, equivalent to three cargoes delivered every day. This growth mostly came from new supply from Australia and the USA.

Shell Gas BV, a unit of Royal Dutch Shell Plc, holds a majority stake in the Hazira LNG Terminal and Port in a venture with a unit of France’s Total SA.