Indian gas transmission and marketing company Gail has signed a deal with Japan’s Mitsui OSK Lines (MOL) to charter a newbuild liquefied natural gas vessel and for the joint ownership of an existing LNG vessel.
The newbuild vessel will be the second MOL Group LNG carrier serving Gail. The parties had earlier signed a contract for the first vessel in 2019, Gail said in a recent statement.
Gail has been scaling up its logistics capabilities in the LNG sector, as it has multiple long-term gas import deals with clients from the US, Australia and the Middle East.
The company said the existing vessel in which it has picked up joint ownership “has been chartered to Gail through a wholly owned MOL subsidiary from 2021”.
“At this time, MOL and Gail reached an agreement to share the vessel by transferring a portion of a wholly owned MOL subsidiary’s shares to Gail,” the Indian company noted.
The newbuild vessel Gail Bhuvan chartered by Gail is under construction at Daewoo Shipbuilding & Marine Engineering’s shipyard in South Korea.
Gail said it is “constantly expanding its global presence through its participation in projects/ventures along the natural gas value chain”.
“With [a] global LNG portfolio of around 14 million tonnes per annum, Gail has emerged as one of the leading global LNG players and is actively involved in the liquefied natural gas trading business in the international market,” it stated.
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