Asia Pulse: SHELL'S GUJARAT TERMINAL TO RECEIVE FIRST LNG CARGO THIS MONTH (ShellNews.net) 6 April 05

NEW DELHI, April 6 Asia Pulse - Royal Dutch/Shell will this month receive its first cargo of liquefied natural gas (LNG) at its Hazira terminal in Gujarat, which is India's second LNG import facility.

"We will receive the first LNG cargo soon," said Marc de Hartog, Director, Shell India.

A Shell-controlled tanker, the 136,000 cubic meters, Gemmata, is set to carry the first commissioning cargo into the terminal.

"The first cargo will arrive from Australia," he said.

Shell will hold a formal function to mark the event on April 21.

India began importing LNG last year when Petronet LNG Ltd, a company jointly promoted by state-owned Oil and Natural Gas Corp (NSI:ONGC), Indian Oil Corp (NSI:IOC), GAIL India (BSE:532155) and Bharat Petroleum Corp (BSE:500547), received its first LNG cargo from Qatar in January 2004.

Shell's first cargo will go into pre-commissioning activities, Hartog said but declined to comment if the company would source LNG from Australia for commercial sales also.

He also did not disclose when Shell proposed to begin commercial sales.

"Tieing up of customers is important," he said.

Shell is setting up the Hazira terminal to handle five million tonnes of LNG a year. Initially, it will import 2.5 million tonnes a year. 

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