Petronet buys stake in Prachi LNG carrier

Petronet LNG, India’s largest importer of liquefied natural gas, has acquired a 26 percent stake in a consortium owning the 173,000-cbm LNG carrier Prachi, India LNG Transport.

Commenting on the acquisition, Petronet’s finance director RK Garg said the acquisition is valued bellow Rs 1 billion (Approx: US$14.98 million) without specifying the exact figure, Press Trust of India reports.

LNG World News contacted Petronet LNG seeking comment on the report. This article will be updated once a response is received.

India LNG Transport, headquartered in Singapore, a consortium comprising Japan’s NYK, Mitsui O.S.K. Lines, and “K” Line, and the Shipping Corporation of India, took delivery of the Prachi LNG carrier at the end of November last year.

The vessel built by the Hyundai Heavy Industries shipyard in South Korea is chartered by Petronet LNG on a 20-year contract to transport liquefied natural gas from the Chevron-operated Gorgon LNG plant on Barrow Island in Western Australia to India.

In a statement following the release of the nine-month financial results, Petronet LNG noted that the utilization of its expanded Dahej LNG terminal reached 98 percent.

In addition, Petronet LNG informed that work on expanding the facility from 15 mtpa to 17.5 mtpa is progressing according to schedule. The EPC contract for the expansion of the LNG regasification facility has been awarded in July 2016.

1 INR = 0.0149748 USD