Petronet LNG Set to Begin Operations at Kochi Terminal by July 2013

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Researched by Industrial Info Resources India (Delhi, India)--With all major pre-commissioning activities near completion, India's state-owned liquefied natural gas (LNG) company Petronet LNG Limited (NSE:532522) (New Delhi) is gearing up to commission its 5 million-ton-per-annum (MTPA) LNG terminal at Kochi by July this year.

As per the previous schedule, the terminal was slated to commence operations in March 2013. But owing to a lack of preparedness in the end-use units to receive gas, the commissioning schedule of the facility has been pushed back. According to Petronet LNG, the terminal has received all mandatory clearances to begin operations, and the facilities for receiving LNG and re-gasifying it for transport have been completed.

The commissioning of the $887 million terminal will help the downstream industries, like the fertilizer, chemical and gas-based power plants in the state of Kerala, meet their feedstock and fuel requirements.

The terminal has two LNG storage tanks, each with a 160,000-cubic-meter storage capacity; send-out and regasification facilities suitable for handling 5 MTPA of LNG; and the associated facilities and offshore marine facilities, including the jetty, berthing, unberthing, mooring and unmooring of LNG tankers and other associated facilities required for all weather operation of LNG ships with capacities ranging from 65,000 to 216,000 cubic meters.

Petronet already has tied up 1.5 MTPA of LNG from the proposed Gorgon project operated by Chevron Australia (NYSE:CVX) in joint venture with Exxon Mobil (NYSE:XOM), and it is also in talks with West Asian countries, including Qatar, for gas supply for its Kochi terminal.

The company is implementing the project through three separate EPC contractors: IHI Corporation (7013:JP) (Tokyo), the storage tank contractor; CTCI Overseas Company Limited (9933:TT) (Taiwan), the regasification facilities contractor; and Afcons Infrastructure Limited (Mumbai), the offshore marine facilities contractor.

Petronet LNG is a consortium promoted by state-owned energy firms like GAIL (India) Limited (NSE:532155) (India), Oil & Natural Gas Corporation Limited (NSE:500312) (Dehradun, India), Indian Oil Corporation Limited (NSE:530965) (New Delhi) and Bharat Petroleum Corporation Limited (NSE:500547) (Mumbai).

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