“The vessels for transporting LNG will be built at a cost of INR15bn each. Cochin Shipyard will partner with a French company to build the ships,” said India’s Surface Transport and Shipping Minister Nitin Gadkari. “In addition, other shipyards in India will be making two more LNG ships.”
Indian shipyards are vying to build three LNG carriers of the nine that are to be hired by state-run gas purveyor GAIL (India) Ltd to transport 5.8m tonnes of gas from the US-based Cheniere Energy Partner and Dominion Resources to India.
Indian shipbuilders such as Larsen & Toubro and Pipavav Defence & Offshore Engineering Co, who showed interest in the tender, however, found it extremely difficult to match the prices quoted by yards in South Korea and China, where six of the sophisticated carriers are to be constructed.
The previous Oil Secretary in the Congress-led UPA government, Vivek Rae, had seen GAIL’s contract as an outstanding opportunity to push the case for domestic LNG shipbuilding, and urged GAIL to include in the tender Indian shipbuilders, who currently lack the technology.
After the change of government in May this year, the current Oil Secretary Saurabh Chandra again nudged GAIL to reserve a part of the $7.6bn contract for Indian shipowners so that global majors transferred LNG shipbuilding technology to India.
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