The Hindu Business Line : LNG terminal: Petronet defers deadline for bids to July 31

Changed schedule
Short-listed companies now have to submit proposals by Sept 30
Terminal expected to be ready by 2010
Pre-project activities such as environmental clearances and land buy completed

New Delhi June 20 Petronet LNG Ltd (PLL) has deferred by almost a month the deadline for inviting the price bid for awarding contracts to set up its liquefied natural gas (LNG) terminal in Kochi.

The reason cited is that PLL and the Cochin Port Trust have been unable to resolve the pending issues on the model concession agreement for building the facility. Besides, any delay in awarding the contracts would also result in the 2.5-million-tonnes-per-annum LNG terminal, with provision for expansion to 5 MMTA, missing its deadline of end-2009.

A senior company official told Business Line: "While deadline for the price bid has been extended from June 29 to July 31, the short-listed companies for the shipping contract have now been asked to submit their proposals by September 30 instead of the earlier date of June 30."

The terminal is now expected to be ready by 2010. This is the second time the company has extended the deadline.

As per the earlier schedule, the company was hoping to award the contract by July-end and it would have taken 42 months from the date to complete the project.

International companies such as IHI, SN Technigaz, and Sofregaz, which have qualified the technical bids for the total engineering, procurement, and construction (EPC) contracts of the LNG terminal, will now have to wait till July for the price bids.

Both PLL and the port trust are trying to resolve the pending issues at the earliest because Petronet needs to have an agreement in place before it awards the construction and shipping contracts.

The consortia of Mitsui, Exmar, MISC, and K Line are in the race to bag the shipping contract from PLL to transport gas to its LNG terminals. "All other pre-project activities like environmental clearances and land acquisition have been completed," the official said.

However, an understanding needs to be reached between the Cochin Port Trust and PLL on the model concession agreement for building the facility.

At present, the Government's model concession agreement for building import and export facilities at ports by parties other than the governing trusts has provision for all commodities except LNG.

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