Natural gas importer Petronet LNG Ltd (PLL) plans to float a shipping subsidiary overseas to haul gas to its greenfield re-gassification terminal of 2.5 million tonnes per annum capacity proposed at Kochi in Kerala. The diversification plan has been unveiled in the tender conditions stipulated by Petronet for selecting ship owners and operators for transporting LNG to the Kochi terminal. This is a departure from the first two shipping tenders finalized by Petronet for hauling gas from RasGas in Qatar to Dahej in Gujarat, wherein it holds a 15 percent stake each in the
first two tankers and 23 percent stake in the third tanker. The recent tender floated by Petronet for time chartering
two LNG tankers of 165,000 to 175,000 cubic meter capacity each from ship owners and operators to ship gas to Kochi for 25 years has attracted 14 bidders out of which seven have been pre-qualified. Those who have been pre-qualified includes state-run Shipping Corporation of India (SCI) with its longstanding Japanese partners Mitsui O.S.K.Lines-NYKLine-K Line, Malaysia International Shipping Corporation Bhd, A P MoellerGroup, German ship management firm Pronav, Teekay Shipping Corp, the consortium comprising Belgian
natural gas shipping firm Exmar- Indian Oil Corporation-Gail and Dubai-based Emirates Trading Agency. (Source: sify.com)