Japan’s MOL takes part in India FSRU project

Japan’s Mitsui OSK Lines has joined India’s first newbuilding floating storage and regasification (FSRU) project.

MOL said on Friday it signed a deal with Swan LNG Private Limited for the long-term operation and maintenance of a FSRU and a floating and storage unit that would serve as the core receiving facilities in an LNG terminal to be developed by Swan Energy in Jafrabad, Gujarat.

The FSRU serving this project has been ordered by Swan Energy through its unit Triumph Offshore that signed a shipbuilding deal with South Korea’s Hyundai Heavy Industries.

MOL has an option to participate in the FSRU joint ownership. The option is exercisable any time before the delivery of the FSRU at the Korean shipyard, according to a MOL statement.

Moreover, MOL will invest in Swan LNG and participate in many facets of the project as a technical partner. The terminal is slated to start operation in early 2020.

India’s first newbuilding FSRU project is part of MOL’s initiatives to “pursue vertically integrated businesses that are not limited to transportation in the LNG business,” in addition to expansion of the LNG business in the growing Indian market, the company said.