Mumbai: Marine fuel supplier Chemoil Energy aims to double its sales in India's Mundra port and extend its presence by 2010 to other ports in the country, where demand is surging, writes Reuters, quoting a senior executive. It also plans to acquire new ships by the end of the year, or beginning of 2010, depending on market conditions, Sanjay Anand, Asia and Middle East md told the Reuters Energy Summit.
The Singapore-listed firm and its joint-venture partner Adani Group - which owns India's largest private port - expect bunkers sales at Mundra on the west coast to double to about 100,000 tons a month by end-2009, from 50,000 tons in April.
"The Gulf of Kutch, where Mundra is, accounts for more than 22 percent of all Indian Maritime cargo traffic. This is expected to cross 30 percent by 2011-2012," said the 54-year old Anand.
To achieve its target, Chemoil is modifying its storage tanks to blend fuels to cater to different specifications required by different tankers. Bunker demand in Mundra, where Chemoil started supplying marine fuel at the start of the year, is expected to grow to 8.5 million tons in five years from 3.0-3.2 million tons in 2008.
Chemoil plans to expand its bunker supply to Chennai port by end-2009 and Mumbai by end next year.
"We are discussing with various parties about our expansion into Chennai, and we expect to start supplying 10,000 tons of bunker fuel by the end of the year," said Anand.
India is a key growth market for Chemoil. The country's bunker demand has the potential to grow to 22-23 million tons in about five years, but actual consumption is currently small at 1.4-1.5 million tons a year, he said. [05/06/09]
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