GAIL (India) plans to have seven or eight liquefied natural gas (LNG) carriers in the next three to four years on a long-term charter or ownership basis in order to ferry the fuel to India from abroad.
From 2017, the company plans to enter the LNG shipping business as it would enable the firm transport the fuel it agreed to buy from the USA.
The state-run firm signed long-term agreements for 3.5 million tonne per annum with US-based Sabine Pass Liquefaction Company that would start 2017-18. It also signed long-term deal with Gazprom for 2.5 million tonne a year from 2018-19.
However, till 2017, GAIL would depend on spot cargoes on a delivery basis. In 2013-14, the company would import 34 cargoes against 12 in the previous year.
The 34 cargoes would bring in nearly 7.4 million standard cubic metre per day (mmscd) of gas, or nearly 2 million tonne of gas a year. (GAIL recorded gas transmissions of 104.90 mmscmd in 2012-13.)
Of this, 18 cargoes have already been tied up, while the rest would be sourced from the spot market. The supplies would be split between the terminals at Dahej and Dabhol.
Leave a Reply
You must be logged in to post a comment.