Asia Pulse (India): ROYAL DUTCH/SHELL TO IMPORT LNG BY FIRST QUARTER OF 2005: “Royal Dutch/Shell on Friday said it will begin importing liquefied natural gas (LNG) at its Hazira terminal in Gujarat by first quarter of 2005 and is looking at sourcing the fuel from Malaysia, Australia, Brunei, Oman or Nigeria…” (ShellNews.net) 6 Dec 04

Dec 06, 2004

NEW DELHI, Dec 6 Asia Pulse - Royal Dutch/Shell on Friday said it will begin importing liquefied natural gas (LNG) at its Hazira terminal in Gujarat by first quarter of 2005 and is looking at sourcing the fuel from Malaysia, Australia, Brunei, Oman or Nigeria, company India head Vikram S Mehta said on Friday.

However, there is an uncertainty on how Shell will ship the fuel as Shipping Ministry has stipulated that LNG should be transported only in Indian flagged vessels while the Anglo- Dutch firm plans to use its own LNG tankers or charter foreign vessels.

"We will source LNG from multiple places. We have equity in LNG projects in Malaysia, Australia, Brunei, Oman and Nigeria and we will source LNG for India from them," he told reporters on the sidelines of an oil and gas conference here.

Mehta said Shell's 2.5 million tonnes per annum LNG receipt and regasification facility at Hazira was nearing completion and the company would be doing commissioning tests in December and January.

He, however, differed from Shipping Ministry order asking Shell to charter LNG tankers that at least 26 per cent owned by Indian firms, saying "this LNG shipping policy is not final. We are expecting to see changes. We will use our own LNG tankers or charter vessels on high seas for transporting LNG to India."

The Shipping Ministry had asked Shell to offer domestic shippers at least 26 per cent in the transportation of LNG to its Hazira LNG import and regasification project.

(PTI)