On March 18, ONGC, Bharat Petroleum Corp (BPCL), Mitsui of Japan entered into an agreement with New Mangalore Port Trust (NMPT) for setting up a liquid gas (LNG) import terminal at Mangalore.
All the four parties signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) for the proposed $500-750 million terminal, which will have an initial capacity of 2-3 million tonne and can be expanded to 5 million tonne later.
The consortium, which aims to commission the terminal by 2018, plans to conduct feasibility studies for the project.
The studies would have technical, marine and environment dimensions and would throw up concrete action plans; an investment decision is expected by early 2014.
According to the MoU, the port allowed the companies to carry out the feasibility studies and it expressed its intention to extend all cooperation to the consortium in this regard.
The first phase of the terminal will cost USD 500-750 million (Rs 2,800 to 4,200 crore) and is expected to be completed in 3-4 years.
It may be recalled that ONGC had plans to build a liquefied natural gas (LNG) terminal in 2005, which was then shelved in 2006 owing to change in leadership.
Leave a Reply
You must be logged in to post a comment.