State-owned gas utility GAIL India Ltd has resumed cargo operations at the nation’s third liquefied natural gas (LNG) terminal at Dabhol after it repaired fenders at the port that were damaged by rough sea.

A ship carrying maiden or the so called commissioning cargo, which will be used to prepare the site for commercial operations, had to move to high seas after the fenders lining the jetty got damaged.

Fenders are bumpers used to absorb the kinetic energy of a berthing boat or vessel against the jetty.

Company officials said the fenders have been repaired and the ship has started discharging the cargo.

The LNG carrier, called Excelerate, at the end of March brought a cargo from Statoil ASA Snohvit LNG plant in the Barents Sea off Norway.

It had offloaded barely 5-10 per cent of the cargo when the operations had to be suspended last week and the vessel was shifted to anchor.

“The vessel is back at the jetty and LNG has begun to be discharged from today,” an official said, adding that the commissioning of the terminal will take few weeks as the systems are being tested one by one.

GAIL owns 31.52 per cent stake in Ratnagiri Gas and Power Co Ltd — the firm that owns the 1,967-MW power plant and adjacent 5 million tonnes a year LNG import terminal at Dabhol in Maharashtra.

The power plant and LNG terminal were built by now bankrupt US energy major Enron Corp about a decade back.

Since it had been shut for so long, GAIL is taking all precautions in commissioning the terminal. The pipelines, storage tanks and other systems are tested one-by-one by lowering temperature to minus 160 degrees Celsius.

LNG is a natural gas that has been liquefied at minus 160 degrees Celsius for ease of transportation in ships. Once received, LNG is re-converted into its gaseous state and transported through pipelines to users like power plants.

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