GAIL to buy one-third of LNG ships from Indian shipbuilders.

Faced with the prospect of a second Presidential directive, state gas utility GAIL India Ltd. has decided to buy from Indian shipbuilders a third of the LNG ships for ferrying gas from the US.

GAIL wants 9 ships to ferry liquefied natural gas (LNG) it has contracted from US producers to India. The previous Oil Secretary Vivek Rae saw the GAIL's chunky contract as an opportunity to push the case for domestic LNG shipbuilding and pushed the company to include Indian shipbuilders, who currently don't have the technology, in the tender.

After Rae, the current Oil Secretary Saurabh Chandra nudged GAIL to reserve a part of the USD 7.6 billion contract for Indian shippers so that global majors transfer LNG shipbuilding technology to India.

Initially, GAIL resisted saying it will be a time consuming process, but when the ministry mulled issue a Presidential directive it backed down.


ET