Kerala - Kochi   

LNG deal awaits panel decision

Staff Reporter

KOCHI: The Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs has to take decisions on a couple of crucial issues before a licence agreement is signed between Petronet LNG Limited (PLL) and Cochin Port Trust (CPT) for the proposed LNG terminal on Puthuvype Island.

CPT sources said on Thursday that they did not foresee any delay and expected the committee to take its decisions within a month or two to pave the way for signing a long-term land lease agreement between the parties.

Neither the CPT nor the Union Shipping Ministry could take decisions on at least two issues regarding the agreement, sources said. These issues were sent for Cabinet consideration and there was no delay on the part of the CPT in handling the project’s formalities.

In anticipation of the agreement, the CPT handed over the project land to PLL for pre-construction activities, sources said.

It is also learnt that the PLL and the CPT have reached mutually satisfactory agreements on most of the issues, including on wharfage and handling charges.

The PLL, set up for establishing LNG terminals in the country, was formed jointly by GAIL India Ltd., Oil and Natural Gas Commission, Indian Oil Corporation Ltd. and Bharat Petroleum Corporation Ltd. with an authorised capital of Rs.1,200 crore.

Gas de France International, Asian Development Bank and the public have stakes in the joint venture.

The LNG receiving and re-gasification terminal in Kochi is designed to handle 5 mmtpa of LNG, although in the first phase the terminal will handle only half that. The CPT has handed over 32 hectares of land on Puthuvype Island for the project.

Union Minister for Petroleum Murali Deora is scheduled to hold a meeting here on Saturday to review the progress of the work on the LNG terminal.

Senior officials from the Petroleum Ministry, PLL, GAIL and CPT along with officials of the State Government are expected to participate in the meeting.

The meeting is being convened here shortly after news reports indicated that the PLL was pushing back the deadline for commissioning the terminal in Kochi by about a year to 2010.

The Union Minister for Petroleum will also lay the foundation for the capacity expansion and modernisation phase II of Bharat Petroleum Corporation-Kochi Refinery at a function on Sunday.

Chief Minister V. S. Achuthanandan, Union Minister for Overseas Indian Affairs Vayalar Ravi and Union Minister of State for Petroleum Dinsha Patel will be present.

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