September 08, 2008

BPCL GAIL JV to market CNG in Kerala & Karnataka

BS reported that Bharat Petroleum Corporation Limited and GAIL India Limited will float a JV to be called Go Gas, for marketing compressed natural gas and piped gas in Kerala and Karnataka.

GAIL and BPCL have signed a MoU for the INR 400 crore ventures. The equity structure of the JV will be similar to Indraprastha Gas. GAIL will own 22.5% stake in the company, BPCL 22.5%, Kerala government 5% and the rest will be held by strategic investors, public and financial institutions.

Mr Rajiv Mathur GM business development at GAIL said that "We are waiting for the gas to come from Petronet’s Kochi LNG terminal."

Petronet’s upcoming liquefied natural gas terminal in Kochi is facing delays. The terminal is now scheduled to be commissioned in 2011. It was expected to be ready by June 2010 after missing the 2009 deadline. Its Kochi terminal will handle 5 million tonnes per annum LNG.

It may be noted that the Petroleum & Natural Gas Regulatory Board in November 2007 had proposed a competitive bidding process to select public and private entities for developing city gas distribution networks in India.