Catering to the growing demand for natural gas in India, the Union Petroleum Ministry is thinking in terms of encouraging Indian shipyards diversify into the construction of LNG vessels.
Vivek Rae, Secretary, Petroleum and Natural Gas, pointed out that there is an increasing need to deploy more LNG vessels to bring gas from outside, as the demand would increase manifold in the coming years.
However, Indian shipyards are not fully equipped to meet such demand. Petronet LNG Ltd is working on a proposal to qualify Indian shipyards in the construction of LNG ships through a joint venture mode with international yards, he said.
He was speaking at a function to mark the official inauguration of the Kochi LNG Terminal constructed by Petronet LNG Ltd.
“We are working on leveraging our buying power so that Indian shipyards qualify to manufacture LNG ships,” he said.
Tax concessions A senior official with Petronet LNG told Business Line that Korean and Japanese yards are in the forefront in LNG ship building, and these companies get various tax concessions and Government support. Similar incentives must be extended to Indian yards in LNG ship construction to make them competitive. Initially such ships can be built in overseas yards through joint ventures and later on be shifted to India under a technology transfer agreement to save construction cost, he suggested.
Petronet LNG Ltd, the largest buyer of liquid gas, has already deployed three vessels on a long-term charter basis to bring gas; it is in the process of hiring the fourth one through a consortium of Shipping Corporation of India and Japanese lines.