Asia/Pacific News
LNG Shipping Deal for Indian Companies
A Japanese shipping consortium in which Shipping Corporation of India Ltd (SCI) is a partner has won a $200 million long-term shipping contract from Indian natural gas importer Petronet LNG Ltd. (Petronet LNG), Indian business news site Live Mint reports.
The consortium will lease a liquefied natural gas (LNG) carrier to Petronet LNG for moving gas from the Gorgon natural gas project in Australia to a regassification terminal in Kochi.
"The Japanese consortium in which Shipping Corp is a partner, has emerged the successful bidder for the contract by quoting the lowest day rate for shipping the cargo from Australia," said R K Garg, finance director at Petronet.
The only other bidder on the tender was Teekay LNG Partners L.P.
The consortium, which has already leased three ships to Petronet LNG, consists of SCI and three major Japanese shipping lines, Mitsui OSK Lines Ltd (MOL), NYK Line Ltd, and K Line Ltd.
SCI has also signed a cooperation deal with GAIL, India's state-owned natural gas firm, involving the shipping of LNG from the U.S. to India starting in mid-2017.
Petronet LNG reduced its profit by 42 percent year-over-year in the second quarter, something it attributed to a decline in utilisation and higher depreciation and interest charges at the Kochi terminal, newspaper the Hindu Business Line reports.
