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(The Chronicle) New Delhi, Aug 1:
State gas utility GAIL India Ltd is scouting for liquefied natural gas (LNG) from overseas suppliers to meet growing domestic fuel demand, company’s new head B C Tripathi said on Saturday.
GAIL, which holds 12.5 per cent stake in nation’s largest LNG importer Petronet LNG Ltd, is looking at independently sourcing the liquefied gas in ships even as it is talking to new domestic gas producers like GSPC for sourcing the fuel.
“We are very aggressively looking at gas sourcing, be it from new domestic fields or LNG,” said Tripathi, who took over as the Chairman and Managing Director of GAIL today.
54-year-old Tripathi, who was previously Director (Marketing), took office upon retirement of U D Choubey.
“Sourcing and securing gas supplies is one of my top most priorities,” he said. GAIL is looking at importing five million tonnes a year of LNG on long-term contract as well as shipping one spot cargo of LNG a month to meet the rising demand for fuel at industries particularly power plants. Tripathi said he would also court new domestic gas producers like Gujarat State Petroleum Corp (GSPC) to buy gas from their fields.
His other priorities included completion of the Rs 28,000 crore worth of pipeline projects in time and within the approved cost as also expanding GAIL’s presence in CNG and piped gas retailing in cities.