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Gaz de France to pick 10% in Petronet

Our Bureau

NEW DELHI, Nov. 22

FRENCH gas major - Gaz de France (GdF) - will pick up 10 per cent equity in Petronet LNG with which it had a strategic partnership earlier.

The shareholding agreement with Petronet LNG, a joint venture between the four public sector energy companies - Gas Authority of India (GAIL), Oil and Natural Gas Corporation, Indian Oil Corporation (IOC) and Bharat Petroleum Corporation Ltd (BPCL), woul d be signed before January 31 next year, the Chairman and Chief Executive of GdF, Mr Pierre Gadonneix, said here today.

Mr Gadonneix said his company intended to play a major role in India in the fields of LNG purchase, conception and operation of a receiving LNG terminal, land transport and gas sales. Through becoming an equity holder of Petronet, it also seeks to partic ipate in the upstream ventures of the LNG chain - gas production and liquefaction.

According to Mr Gadonneix, though NTPC will not be a partner in Petronet, still the company will provide fuel to NTPC solely because it will be one of its largest consumers. Petronet's rates for NTPC would also be competitive against those quoted by inte rnational companies such as Shell or British Gas that were entering the Indian market, he said.

Construction work for Petronet LNG's oil import project from Qatar and building a regasification terminal at Dahej in Gujarat would begin early next year following the shareholding agreement. The French company would also look at the possibility of incre asing its stake further though it was yet to be discussed with the partners, the GdF Chairman said.

Speaking at a meeting organised by the Federation of Indian Chamber of Commerce and Industry (FICCI), Mr Gadonneix said it was a wise decision for India to import natural gas as the demand for natural gas should double in the country in the next five yea rs.

He said that during the past 10 years, his company had been establishing a strong relationship with Gas Authority of India and had identified India as one of its four priority investment areas, the other three being Europe, Latin America and Mexico.

Separate co for O&M

GdF will float a separate joint venture company for operations and maintenance (O&M) of Petronet LNG's terminal in Gujarat.

The joint venture company will be formed with GdF as the majority shareholder and will take in the EPC contractors as minor equity holders and can also include the four public sector companies which are partners in the Petronet project.

Mr Pierre Gadonneix said that the purpose of taking Indian companies in the joint venture company was to ensure speedy indigenisation of the operation and maintenance services for the company.

He said that while Petronet was the vehicle for setting up the project, the proposed joint venture company would be a different unit for looking after the supporting operations. The new outfit will work out a new operation and maintenance contract with P ertronet for its facilities.

Pic.: Mr Pierre Godannei, Chairman of Gaz de France (right), with Mr A.S. Kasliwal, past President, FICCI, addressing FICCI members in the Capital on Wednesday.

Picture by Ramesh Sharma