Shell India director Marc den Hartog said the companies’ plan to expand the operations of the newly-built deepwater port.

Hazira was a global first for the LNG industry, according to den Hartog. It was aimed at offering flexibility in contract duration and to match customer demand fluctuations rather than sticking to traditional long-term contracts with rigid terms.

First gas came from the North West Shelf project and was sold to Gujarat State Petroleum Corp (GSPC), den Hartog said.

The initial capacity of the Hazira terminal is 2.5 million tonnes per year of LNG, but that can be doubled by incremental expansions once domestic gas demand grows.