Hazira LNG Terminal

The Hazira liquefied natural gas (LNG) terminal is located in the Surat district of Gujarat, India. The LNG terminal was built in April 2005 at a cost of $641m. Spread over 36ha, the Hazira terminal has a capacity of 2.5m tons per annum (mtpa) of LNG.

Shell Hazira Port, a unit of Royal Dutch Shell, operates the terminal and owns 74% interest in the facility. Total Gaz Electricité France holds the remaining 26%.

In July 2010, Shell announced that the Hazira terminal would be open to use for other companies. Gujarat State Petroleum is expected to be one of the first few companies to use the terminal.

Construction and infrastructure

Construction of the LNG terminal was started in August 2001. The facility was completed in two phases in 2005 and 2006. The facility features an LNG re-gasification terminal with a design capacity of 5mtpa of LNG. Depending upon market demand, the capacity can be expanded to 10mtpa of LNG.

The facility also features two full-containment cryogenic tanks with a capacity of 160,000m³ each. The tanks have a diameter of 80m and a height of 40m. They can store LNG at a temperature of -165° C.

The two cryogenic tanks at the facility were constructed by setting up a 120m³ computerised concrete batching plant. Two 30m³ standby batching plants were also set up during construction. Two 75m high tower cranes with a capacity of 12.5t were used for the construction activities. The domes of the two towers were airlifted into position. Upon completion, the tanks were purged with nitrogen.

A 1.3km LNG receiving jetty is also part of the facility. The jetty can accommodate LNG carriers with a capacity of up to 145,000m³.

Contractors

The Hazira terminal was designed by Shell Global Solutions (SGS). SGS awarded an engineering, procurement and construction contract worth $330m to a joint venture between Tecnimont Group and Saipem Group. Tecnimont Group included Tecnimont, Sofregaz and Tecnimont ICB while Saipem Group included Saipem and Technigaz.

Punj Lloyd was awarded the contract for building two cryogenic tanks for the terminal. The company carried out the construction of the RCC wall of the tanks, erection and air lifting of the roofs, and insulation of the tank base. The company also carried out hydro testing of the pipelines and tanks.

The causeway and spurs of the terminal were constructed by Larsen & Toubro. Afcons constructed the terminal’s jetty and the building was constructed by Simplex.

Processing

The re-gasification process at the terminal involves heating of the super cool LNG to transform it back into gas. Heating is carried out using two types of heat exchangers. The first type of heat exchanger is an Open Rack Vapouriser (ORV).

The ORV system consists of a number of thin pipes through which the LNG is pumped. Heated sea water is passed over the ORV system increasing the temperature of the LNG and thereby turning it into gas. The terminal is equipped with three ORVs of which one is a standby.

The second type of heat exchanger is known as the Submerged Combustion Vapouriser (SCV).

The SCV system consists of a large vessel containing water which is heated using gas. Pipes containing LNG pass through the vessel converting the LNG into gas.

Connection

The converted gas is sent through a 17km pipeline to the Mora Gas Hub. Owned and operated by Gujarat State Petronet, the Mora Gas Hub delivers gas to various industries such as steel mills.

Hazira terminal facilities

The Hazira terminal also includes a deep-water, multi-cargo port situated 25km from Surat. It has a protected harbour design with a 1,000m approach channel, a draft of 11.5m and a turning radius of 600m.

Site

Hazira was chosen as the location to build the terminal for several reasons. The area is located near key markets for gas and connected to the gas grid in Gujarat.

The site was also ideal for connection with the HBJ pipeline and the Dahej-Uran pipeline. These pipelines provide the terminal with access to markets such as Maharashtra, Gujarat, Rajasthan and the northern part of India.