Petronet Buys LNG Carrier Stake

India's Petronet LNG has paid about rupees 1bn ($15mn) for a 26% stake in a consortium that owns the LNG carrier, Prachi.

"We have now decided to take 26% equity in India LNG Transport Company (No 4) Private Limited," Indo Asian News Service quoted Petronet's finance director RK Garg as saying February 14.

The company did not say which partner sold down their shareholdings but the new arrangement is that Petronet, Shipping Corporation of India, and Japanese shipowner NYK Line each hold 26% and two other Japanese shipowners Mitsui OSK Line and K Line together own the remaining 22%.

LNG vessel Prachi (Credit: Mitsui OSK Lines)

Prachi can hold 173,000 m³ of LNG and was built to order by South Korea's Hyundai Heavy Industries based on a long-term time charter contract with Petronet LNG. A naming ceremony for the ship was held on October 18, 2016. This will be Petronet’s fourth vessel. Petronet currently brings in 7.5mn mt/yr of LNG from Qatar using three LNG carriers. Prachi is the fourth vessel that will be used to transport LNG to India and will be deployed to lift cargoes from the Gorgon LNG project in Australia. In 2009, Petronet signed a 20-year agreement with Exxon to buy 1.5mn mt/yr of LNG.

Shardul Sharma