Petronet drops plans to buy stake in GSPC’s Mundra LNG plant
Petronet LNG has dropped plans to buy 25 per cent stake in Gujarat State Petroleum Corporation’s (GSPC) almost-complete ~4,500-crore Mundra LNG import terminal in Gujarat to allow its promoter IOC to pick a larger stake, a company official said.
State-owned Indian Oil Corporation (IOC) has been talking to GSPC for almost two years now for acquiring 50 per cent stake in the five-million tonne (mt) a year Mundra liquefied natural gas (LNG) import terminal. Petronet, India's biggest gas importer, entered the fray earlier this year. It is keen on buying a stake in IOC's under-construction five-mt a year LNG import facility at Ennore in Tamil Nadu. “We have decided not to pursue Mundra as our promoter firm IOC is more interested,” the official, who wished not to be named, said. In lieu of letting go Mundra, Petronet wants IOC to give it 25 per cent stake in the Ennore terminal. ”For us, Ennore is more strategically important as we already have two terminals on the west coast - Dahej in Gujarat and Kochi in Kerala. Talks on Ennore are on,” he said.