GAIL of India is planning to issue a new tender changing the requirements that have seen the previous tender for hiring LNG newbuilds fail.
The Indian company sought to hire 9 LNG newbuilds to transport U.S. LNG starting from 2017, but the Government pushed for every third vessel to be built domestically, in order to kick start Indian LNG shipbuilding industry.
The tender failed since Japanese and Korean shipbuilders were unwilling to share expertise and technology, and after postponing the tender several times, GAIL had to cancel it completely.
India’s Financial Express reported a Government official saying the tender will be issued again with changed norms. The deadline for the launching of the tender has not been revealed, but with all the cancelations, GAIL is facing the possibility of not having the vessels ready by 2017 when the LNG imports from the United States are scheduled to start.
Although the GAIL deal would be lucrative, no Indian shipyard currently has the technology that would enable them to meet the stringent requirements needed to build LNG carriers.
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LNG World News Staff; Image: GAIL