"SCI has evinced interest to be the LNG carrier from Qatar to the project terminals of Petronet at Dahej and Kochi, and the corporation has made a proposal to set up a separate joint-venture company," Petronet sources said.

The state-owned shipping company has proposed to pick up a 49 per cent stake in the joint venture with the majority being with Petronet, sources said, adding, negotiations were on with SCI.

Petronet had selected the Rasgas-Mobil combine as the LNG supplier to terminals at Dahej and Kochi. The multinational consortium will be supplying a total of 7.5 million tonnes of LNG per annum to the two terminals, sources said.

Of the 7.5 million tonnes, 5 million tonnes will be supplied to the Dahej terminal and the balance to Kochi.

Petronet LNG, a joint venture of four national oil companies --Indian Oil Corporation, Gas Authority of India, Oil and Natural Gas Corporation and Bharat Petroleum, is also looking at various other options for working out transportation arrangement, sources said.

At present, SCI does not have specialised LNG tankers in their fleet. Sources said other options with Petronet LNG are hiring shipping lines which are already in this business, or giving contract to private companies that would undertake transporation as their responsibility on freight-on-board basis.

"Various options are available with Petronet and the company is presently working out the most cost-effective and feasible process for transporting the gas to the terminals," the sources said.

The financial closure of the two terminals is likely to be achieved by mid-1999 and Petronet would soon invite bids for appointing a financial advisor.

Financial companies like Pricewater House, Sumitomo Bank of Japan and Industrial Credit and Investment Corporation of India (ICICI) have already evinced interest tobe financial advisors for the project terminals, they said.

Petronet is in the process of spinning off the Dahej and Kochi projects as two separate companies, they said.

Petronet LNG would be inviting international competitive bids for selecting the engineering, procurement and construction (EPC) contractor for the two terminals by next week.

The EPC contractor would be finalised by the end of this year, the sources said.