GAIL receives LNG cargo for FACT at Kochi
Struggling for relevance and bleeding money, Petronet-LNG received only its 12th cargo at the Kochi terminal on October 26 when GAIL took delivery of 150,710 cubic metres LNG aboard tanker Lobito sourced from Angola LNG through Vitol.
Destined for fertiliser producer FACT, the cargo was priced at $5.49/mmbtu. Petronet-LNG's struggling Kochi terminal is hampered by Tamil Nadu's opposition to a R-LNG evacuation pipeline but soon it could be thrown a lifeline if a planned R-LNG pipeline linking it to Mangalore in Karnataka goes ahead.
MECON, acting for GAIL, released a tender on October 29 for contractors to lay a 131-km stretch from Kootanad village in Kerala to a spur line connecting Mangalore. Split into Section IIA (63.7-km) and Section IIB (67.3-km), the pipeline's aim, says MECON, is to "connect Kerala state" from a tap-off at FACT's production facility at Udyogmandal - linked directly to the Kochi terminal by a 20-km pipeline.
Anyone interested has until November 22 to submit bids and a pre-bid is scheduled for November 5. Whoever wins has 11 months to lay the pipeline.