NEW DELHI, June 25: Petronet LNG, the joint venture gas company between the company's oil majors, is likely to finalise the list of suppliers of liquified natural gas (LNG) to it, next month. By the end of the year, they will be in a position to finalise the agreement with them.Petronet has received 17 offers from gas companies in various countries, following an international bid, and shortlisted seven of these. Petronet will be setting up two LNG terminals, a 5 million tonne one at Dahej in Gujarat and a 2.5 million tonne one at Kochi in Kerala.
Petronet is also in the process of finalising contracts with potential users of gas such as IPCL and Kribhco. Disclosing this, Petronet's CMD Suresh Mathur, pointed out that several of these users as well as various state governments were also keen to take equity in the project as this would also give them a greater stake in it.
Explaining why Petronet was unique and in a better position than some of its rivals various companies are in the race to set up LNGterminals in western India Mathur pointed out that they would also be in a position to supply to the HBJ pipeline. Since there is already a shortage of around 2.5 million tonnes of gas here, this represented additional demand for Petronet.Petronet has also assured potential customers that it would be able to supply them with alternate fuels in case it was unable to supply them LNG for some reason.
Copyright © 1998 Indian Express Newspapers (Bombay) Ltd.
