HPCL to take 8% stake in Petronet's Gangavaram LNG terminal.

State-owned Hindustan Petroleum Corp Ltd. (HPCL) may pick up 8 per cent stake in Petronet LNG Ltd's Rs. 5,000 crore liquefied natural gas (LNG) terminal at Gangavaram in Andhra Pradesh.

'HPCL has evinced interest in taking stake in the terminal as they have a huge requirement of gas at Visakhapatnam refinery,' a top Petronet official said.

The Viskhapatnam refinery of HPCL, which is only a few kilometers away from Gangaravam port, is being expanded to 15 million tonnes per annum from current 8.33 million tonnes and the expanded unit will have a gas requirement of close to 2.5-3 million standard cubic meters per day.

'We have earmarked a total of 24 per cent shareholding for strategic investors and ports. Out of this, the Gangavaram port has already taken 8 per cent and a similar stake is being offered to LNG suppliers. So HPCL can get 8 per cent equity,'he said.

Andhra Pradesh government too has evinced interest and is likely to get 5 per cent stake, leaving Petronet with 69 per cent shareholding.

Years ago, HPCL had missed the LNG bus when it got left out of the PSU consortium that formed Petronet. Indian Oil, ONGC, GAIL and Bharat Petroleum each have 12.5 per cent stake in Petronet.

The official said gas utility GAIL India Ltd. has evinced interest in booking half of the 5 million tonnes a year import capacity of the proposed terminal.


HBL