Total in talks to buy stake in Adani’s LNG, city gas projects
: French energy giant Total SA is in talks to buy up to half of Adani Group’s stake in LNG projects in Gujarat and Odisha, an under-construction LPG import facility and in its city gas projects, people privy to the development said.
The French firm is keen on investing in fast growing gas market in India and finds Adani a suitable vehicle as it owns the crucial downstream infrastructure, they said.
Adani holds 25% stake in justcompleted 5 million tonnes a year liquefied natural gas (LNG) import terminal at Mundra. It is also building a similar capacity LNG import terminal at Dhamra in Odisha at a cost of ₹5,100 crore.
The people said Total is in talks to buy half of Adani’s stake in the two terminals.
It is also looking at buying a 50% stake in under-construction LPG import terminal that Adani is building at Mundra in Gujarat as well as a stake in Adani’s flourishing city gas distribution projects, the people said, adding that a preliminary pact may be signed this week during the visit of Total chief executive officer (CEO) Patrick Pouyanne to India.
India is looking at more than doubling the share of natural gas in its energy basket to 15% in next few years and is giving major push to city gas distribution projects. It imports half of its gas needs, which are projected to rise exponentially as it shifts from
polluting liquid fuels to environment friendly natural gas.
While an email sent to Total for comments remained unanswered, Adani Group spokesperson wasn’t immediately available for comments. While the Mundra LNG terminal has Gujarat State Petroleum Corp (GSPC) as the lead partner, Adani is building a new LPG import facility at the same port with a total capacity to 3.56 million tonnes per annum. The LPG terminal is to be completed by next month.
Adani Gas, a subsidiary of Adani Enterprises Ltd, is developing city gas distribution (CGD) networks to supply the piped natural gas (PNG) to the industrial, commercial, domestic (residential) units and compressed natural gas (CNG) to the transport sector. It already has set up city gas distribution networks in Ahmedabad
and Vadodara in Gujarat, Faridabad in Haryana and Khurja in Uttar Pradesh.
It has, in the recently concluded CGD bid round, won rights to 13 cities on its own and another 9 in joint venture with state-owned Indian Oil Corp (IOC). These are in addition to the 50:50 Adani-IOC joint venture winning rights to develop CGD network in Allahabad, Chandigarh, Ernakulam, Panipat, Daman, Dharwad, and Udhamsingh Nagar in previous bid rounds.
The people said Total is looking at buying half of Adani’s stake all the CGD networks.
The development comes weeks after Total announced its exit from Royal Dutch Shell-operated Hazira LNG terminal in Gujarat.
It sold its 26% stake in the project to Shell.