RasGas delays 2.5m t/y LNG â€کtranche' to Petronet-LNG
Petronet-LNG’s terminal at Dahej will have to wait an additional three to four months before receiving cargoes under the second long-term LNG instalment from RasGas in Qatar.
PETROWATCH learns deliveries of the 2.5m t/y instalment (â€کtranche’) from RasGas to Petronet-LNG are likely to start only in late December this year or early January 2010. “Our earlier schedule was for deliveries to begin in October 2009,†confirms a Petronet-LNG source.
“But now it is delayed by a few months.†Once the new instalment begins, total supplies of LNG from RasGas to Petronet-LNG will increase from 5m t/y to 7.5m t/y.
But for that to happen, RasGas in Qatar first needs to get two of the world’s largest LNG liquefaction facilities (â€کtrains’) up and running: Train-6 and Train-7, each with a capacity of 7.8m t/y. GAIL sources tell PETROWATCH the 2.5m t/y instalment for Dahej is coming from Train-7 so a delay in that facility’s commissioning could be the reason for a delay in shipments to Dahej.
“But the reason behind the delay (in commissioning Train-7) is unknown,†we hear. Until now RasGas has not bothered to update its website, which says: “Early engineering and construction work on what will be two of the world’s largest LNG trains began in 2005.
Train-6 is scheduled to come on stream in 2008 and Train-7 in 2009.†PETROWATCH learns Train-6 was not commissioned in 2008; it was commissioned only in August 2009, and is expected to take up to six months to come on stream.
“Train-7 is expected to be commissioned early 2010,†confirms a source from Qatar. Petronet-LNG’s first cargo from RasGas landed at Dahej in 2004 under the first 5m t/y first instalment (â€کtranche’) of a 25-year SPA (Sales and Purchase Agreement) for 7.5m t/y LNG signed on July 31, 1999.
On August 3, 2006, RasGas and Petronet-LNG signed a â€کside letter’ amending the SPA so that the second 2.5m t/y â€کtranche’ originally destined for Kochi lands at Dahej instead.