Enron-era breakwater project nears completion after a gap of 24 years, to aid India’s LNG imports   

Konkan LNG Ltd. CEO Tony Mathew, who was involved in various cross-country gas pipeline projects of GAIL (India), was instrumental in fast-tracking the project implementation in the face of several legal challenges to stall the project located in Ratnagiri district of Maharashtra.

An Enron-era breakwater project, stalled since 2001 in the Arabian Sea when the American company exited India abruptly following its liquidation, is expected to be completed next month to aid India’s import of Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG) to improve the energy mix. 

Konkan LNG Ltd. (KLL), a GAIL (India) subsidiary, would soon operationalise the Dabhol Breakwater project which will make the Dabhol LNG terminal facility an all-weather port.

“We are working very hard and the project is expected to be completed by March 2025. After obtaining statutory clearances, our terminal will be an all weather port,” said Tony Mathew, Chief Executive Officer (CEO), Konkan LNG Ltd.

Mr. Mathew, who was involved in various cross-country gas pipeline projects of GAIL (India), was instrumental in fast-tracking the project implementation in the face of several legal challenges to stall the project located in Ratnagiri district of Maharashtra.

Unlike many other breakwater systems, which are land-connected, Dabhol’s breakwater is an island breakwater, making its construction far more challenging. 

It is built at a seabed depth of 17 to 18 metre, rising to 7 metre above the water level. Its base width exceeds 100 metre, with a crest width of 7.35 metre. The breakwater has been constructed 2.75 km away from the shore and is at a 750-metre distance from the Jetty.

When Enron quit India, its contractor BESIX had constructed a 500 metre stretch between 1998-2001 of the 2.3 km breakwater and had to leave. Now L&T, appointed by KLL in 2020, took up work on the project mainly since 2022.

Since its an Island breakwater, construction can progress effectively only in non-monsoon season of seven months when the calm Arabian Sea allows safe operations of marine construction fleet. 

Breakwater is constructed with multiple layers of rock, covered with concrete blocks called ‘Accropodes,’ specially designed to dissipate wave energy. 

Dabhol LNG Terminal was originally planed to be a captive unit of the LNG run Dabhol Power Plant which was acquired by NTPC and GAIL India in 2005 from the erstwhile owners of the plant and lenders.

The LNG Terminal was commissioned in 2013 and separated in 2018 from the power plant through a demerger and KLL became its owner since 2020.

Since the NTPC’s Dabhol Power Plant is not in continuous operation due to high price of gas, the regassification capacity of the LNG terminal is reduced to 7.5 MMSCMD (7.5 Million Metric Standard Cubic Meter per Day ) against the designed capacity of 18 MMSCMD. 

Alternatively, setting up of Ambient Air Heating System (AAHS) has also been initiated to meet adequate process heat for regassification to supply gas to the national grid.

Due to the absence of breakwater, port operation is possible only during safe weather of eight months from September to April and the present capacity is limited to 27% of the designed capacity.

After completion of the breakwater and subsequent clearance from the statutory authorities for port operation during monsoon period, the terminal will achieve 41% of the capacity of 5 MMTPA. 

The terminal will achieve 100% capacity after completion of AAHS which is expected by December 2026. (80 LNG cargos per year)

KLL is also going for expansion of the terminal from 5 MMTPA to 6.3 MMTPA in the first phase with an estimated investment of ₹1,100 crore by 2030 making KLL capable of unloading 100 LNG cargoes per year.

Further, in the second phase, the capacity would be expanded to achieve 200 cargos per year at an estimated cost of ₹9,400 crore by 2035. 

The Dabhol port of KLL will play a significant role to increase the share of natural gas in India’s energy mix from 6.5% currently to 15% by 2030.