8th consortia file for GAIL long-term CNG ship chartering

Mumbai, Mar 27: Eight national and international consortia have responded to GAIL's invite for the expression of interest (EOI) for transportation of CNG from the A1 block of Myanmar.

The Gas Authority of India Limited (GAIL) today informed the BSE that through the international bidding process, it will now select a consortium for long-term chartering service of CNG ship-barge, thus carving out a niche market of transportation solution in the regional markets.

GAIL is now in the process of floating RFQ (request for qualification) to the interested parties, before tying up for what could be the world's first CNG shipping time chartering service.

The EOIs have been submitted by - Consortium of EnerSea Transport LLC from US, MitSui, K-Line and others; Consortium of TransCanada from Canada and others; Knutsen OAS Shipping AS of Norway; Malaysia International Shipping Corporation (MISC), Malaysia; Forbes Bumi Armada Limited of Malaysia along with Trans Ocean Gas, BMT Fleet Technology Limited of Canada, Wilhemsen Marine consultants of Norway and others; Ardeshir B Cursetjee&Sons Ltd, Mumbai; Marubeni Corporation of Japan along with Sea NG Management Corporation of Canada and Exmar Marine NV of Belgium.

CNG marine transportation has an inherent advantage over LNG shipping for transporting medium volume of gas upto a distance of 1,500 km as it obviates the necessity of capital intensive investment towards liquefaction plant at source and regasification plant at delivery point.

Being one of the stake holders in the A1 block, GAIL has carried out pre-feasibility study to market the natural gas in India from this source through various options, including Myanmar-India pipeline. In the given context of prospective size of the gas field and the distance of 600 km from the field to the East coast of India, the option for transporting CNG by ship will provide flexibility to deliver gas at various coastal locations of India. CNG marine transportation provides an additional advantage of higher scalability by simply adding more ships with the progressive increase of supply from the same source and nearby sources.

With this, GAIL is now poised to move ahead with an innovative solution for evacuating Myanmar gas.

UNI