GAIL To Strengthen Global Presence With New LNG Carrier

State-owned GAIL and Japanese transport firm Mitsui OSK Lines (MOL), through a wholly owned MOL subsidiary, on Tuesday (20 December) signed a time charter contract for a newbuilding Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG) carrier and a joint ownership of an existing LNG carrier.

The new building vessel will be the second MOL group LNG carrier serving GAIL, the company said in a statement.

The parties signed a contract for the first vessel in 2019 and it has been chartered to GAIL through a wholly owned MOL subsidiary from 2021, the statement said.

"At this time, MOL and GAIL reached an agreement to share the vessel by transferring a portion of a wholly owned MOL subsidiary's shares to GAIL," it added.

GAIL is constantly expanding its global presence through its participation in projects/ventures along the natural gas value chain, the statement said.

With the global LNG portfolio of around 14 MMTPA, GAIL has emerged as one of the leading global LNG players and is actively involved in the LNG trading business in the international market, it added.