Maiden LNG ship sets sail for Qatar

The only liquefied natural gas (LNG) ship, which is part owned by an Indian company Disha, has set sail on its maiden voyage to RasGas, Qatar.

The tanker will load its first cargo of LNG at RasGas on January 25 and is slated to bring the first-ever LNG cargo to the country on January 30, 2004.

The tanker is part owned by the Shipping Corporation of India (SCI), which had earlier picked up a stake in another LNG ship Lakshmi for carrying LNG to the Enron-promoted Dabhol Power Corporation (DPC) in Maharashtra.

After the closure of the Dabhol plant, SCI had sold its stake in the ship. The time charter agreement for 25 years was signed with a consortium comprising three Japanese shipping lines"" Mitsui OSK Lines (MOL), NYK Line and K Line, the state owned SCI and Qatar Shipping.

Petronet LNG (PLL) has constructed India's first receiving station at Dahej in Gujarat. It has chartered two tankers of 1,38,000 cubic meters capacity for transporting LNG from RasGas to Dahej, a press release issued by Petronet LNG said.

The consortium led by Mitsui OSK Line awarded the shipbuilding contract to Daewoo Shipbuilding and Marine Engineering Company, South Korea, for constructing two LNG tankers.

Mitsui OSK is the world leader in LNG shipping and owns and operates around a sixth of the world's fleet. The delivery of the second LNG tanker is scheduled for December 16, 2004.

Petronet LNG was set up by the Union government to import LNG. It is a joint venture between, GAIL India, Oil and Natural Gas Corporation, Indian Oil Corporation and Bharat Petroleum Corporation in which each hold 12.5 per cent stake.

GDF Internationa, the French national gas company, also holds up to 10 per cent and a strategic partner LNG supplier"" RasGas, Mobil, end users, financial institutions and banks are expected to participate as shareholders.

PeTronet has signed a sale purchase agreement with Ras Laffan Liquefied Natural Gas Company of Qatar for supplying LNG to India.

Petronet is setting up two terminals, one at Dahej in Gujarat with a capacity of 5 MMTPA and the other at Kochi in Kerala with 2.5 MMTPA capacity.