With the government keeping in abeyance the LNG shipping policy that stipulated tankers to be Indian-flagged, Petronet LNG has invited bids again for chartering a vessel to ferry the liquid gas from Qatar from 2010.Petronet had shortl-isted a consortium led by Belgium-based Exmar for hiring a 1,56,000 cubic meter capacity LNG carrier for 25 years based on the shipping ministry guidelines that stipulated a minimum 26% stake for an Indian shipping company, industry sources said.After the policy was kept in abeyance, Petronet asked all the three bidders - Exmar, Teekay and Mitsui - to re-submit bids by Monday evening as per the changed rules that no longer insist on an Indian-flagged vessel chartering LNG to the country.Shyam Sunder, director (technical) of Petronet, wrote to all the three bidders on December 9 calling for fresh bids citing that the original bids submitted were based on shipping ministry's LNG policy, which has subsequently been kept in abeyance.While Exmar had Varun Shipping as its 26% Indian shipping partner, Indian Oil Corporation (IOC) also had an equal interest in the consortium that made the lowest offer of $82,000 per day. Exmar had 25% stake, and had offered 23% to Petronet, sources added.Mitsui had teamed up with Shipping Corporation of India for the contract while Teekay had lined up with GE Shipping for the tender.
