Royal Dutch Shell plans to double the capacity of its LNG import facility at Hazira on India's west coast to 10 million tonnes a year, a top company executive said on March 31st.
Shell owns a 74% stake in Hazira LNG Ltd, while Total holds the rest.
"We've done all the work, now it's sort of taking a look at when is the right timing in terms of demand that's available," Nitin Prasad, chairman of Shell Companies in India, told Reuters, without giving a timeline for the expansion.
A government panel said in a report in April 2015 that Hazira LNG will look to expand the capacity of its LNG terminal in the western state of Gujarat by 50% to 7.5 mnt/yr in the fiscal year to March 2017.
India aims to raise the share of gas in its energy mix to 15% in the next three years from about 6.5% at present, as it attempts to achieve energy security while keeping pollution levels down. India's gas imports in April 2016-February 2017 rose 16.4% to 22.53 bcm, according to government data.
Shell has also opened the third of three global energy research and technology centres nearby in India’s Karnataka state.