News Detail

<p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="color:#696969"><span style="font-size:11px"><span style="font-family:arial">Buoyed by the recent success in completing the first phase of India&#39;s indigenous aircraft carrier (IAC), the Cochin Shipyard Ltd (CSL) is now readying to take up the offer from the ministry of petroleum and natural gas to build LNG vessels in the country.</span></span></span></p> <p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="color:#696969"><span style="font-size:11px"><span style="font-family:arial">&quot;We have already held talks with officials of the ministry and Gas Authority of India Ltd (GAIL) on this. We are quite excited about the proposal to make LNG vessels in India. We are going to pursue it seriously,&quot; said Commodore K Subramanian, chairman and managing director of CSL</span></span></span></p> <p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="color:#696969"><span style="font-size:11px"><span style="font-family:arial">The proposal to make LNG vessels in the country will be a big relief for the order-starved Indian shipyards, Subramanian said.</span></span></span></p> <p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="color:#696969"><span style="font-size:11px"><span style="font-family:arial">CSL itself is heading towards a near zero-order situation once it delivers the 20-odd fast patrol vessels currently being manufactured at the shipyard. The only long contract remaining with the CSL would then be IAC which only demands limited manpower in the second phase.</span></span></span></p> <p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="color:#696969"><span style="font-size:11px"><span style="font-family:arial">Vivek Rae, secretary of the ministry, had made the offer to Indian shipyards at the function held on Saturday when Prime Minister Manmohan Singh dedicated the Petronent LNG terminal, Puthuvype, to the nation.</span></span></span></p> <p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="color:#696969"><span style="font-size:11px"><span style="font-family:arial">Rae had said the ministry was now thinking of amending tender conditions so that Indian shipyards can build such gas carrying vessels in partnerships with global shipyards. Or the shipyards abroad, who win the contract, could be persuaded to build the vessels in India.</span></span></span></p> <p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="color:#696969"><span style="font-size:11px"><span style="font-family:arial">The prime minister and the petroleum secretary had spoken about the spill-over benefits to the Indian shipping and shipbuilding industries when the country imports huge quantity of LNG in future.</span></span></span></p> <p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="color:#696969"><span style="font-size:11px"><span style="font-family:arial">Gail has already entered into long-term agreements with US firms for importing 6.3 MMBTU (million metric British thermal unit) of shale gas to India. &quot;We would require at least six to seven vessels to bring gas to India,&quot; a top official of the Gail said over phone from New Delhi.</span></span></span></p> <p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="color:#696969"><span style="font-size:11px"><span style="font-family:arial">&quot;It would be uneconomical to rely on leasing ships when gas is imported from faraway places such as the US. Petronet LNG often invests in shipping companies which are engaged in the transport of the fuel,&quot; said R K Garg, director (finance) of Petronet.</span></span></span></p> <p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="color:#696969"><span style="font-size:11px"><span style="font-family:arial">At the function on Saturday, the prime minister had disclosed that Petronet LNG has already tied up supply of 14.4 lakh tonnes of LNG per year for the Kochi terminal from the Gorgon project in Australia for a 20-year period.</span></span></span></p> <p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="color:#696969"><span style="font-size:11px"><span style="font-family:arial">According to petroleum minister M Veerappa Moily, the import of gas would be unavoidable for India in the future as the country has only 1% of the world&#39;s known natural gas reserves.</span></span></span></p> <p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="color:#696969"><span style="font-size:11px"><span style="font-family:arial">Commodore K Subramanian said CSL was confident in building LNG vessels in the yard at an attractive price.</span></span></span></p> <p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="color:#696969"><span style="font-size:11px"><span style="font-family:arial">Source-On Request</span></span></span></p>