AG&P signs contract to hire floating LNG terminal at Karaikal Port in Puducherry

LNG logistics company Atlantic Gulf & Pacific (AG&P) on Monday said it will hire a floating LNG terminal from Abu Dhabi's ADNOC Logistics and Services to set up India's first floating LNG import facility at Karaikal Port in Puducherry. The two firms "signed an agreement for the conversion, supply, operations, and maintenance of a floating storage unit (FSU) at AG&P's new LNG import facility located within Karaikal Port in Puducherry, India," the company said in a statement.

"The 137,756 cubic meter FSU owned by ADNOC L&S is being chartered for 15 years through an innovative commercial model enabling supply to be scaled to match demand. Construction on the terminal will begin in Q1 2020 (first quarter) with commercial operations expected to commence before the end of 2021," it said.

The Karaikal FSU will be only the 4th FSU-based LNG import terminal in the world, after those in Malta, Malaysia, and Bahrain.

ADNOC L&S will provide a Japan-built Moss-type containment vessel as FSU for the project from its fleet of eight LNG ships. "This agreement with Atlantic Gulf & Pacific is significant for ADNOC Logistics & Services in a number of ways," said Abdulkareem Al Masabi, CEO of ADNOC L&S.

"Firstly, it represents our first agreement with AG&P and one of our company's most important goals is to find creative ways to branch out and find new partnerships around the world to fuel our company's safer, smarter growth. It is also an important agreement because it provides AG&P with additional storage flexibility for their LNG terminal as well as giving us the chance to generate more value from one of our historical assets which is coming to the end of its current contract."

Owned and operated by AG&P, the LNG import facility at the Karaikal Port will have an initial capacity of 1 million tonnes per annum (MTPA), which will be expanded to 3 MTPA in the medium term as demand increases. The terminal will serve domestic, industrial and commercial customers within a radius of 500 km, including the heavily industrialized region of central Tamil Nadu, which has major manufacturing clusters for the fertilizer, cement, steel, textile, leather, sugar and garment industries.

In addition, it will serve gas-fired power plants as well as AG&P's own extensive city gas distribution network across South India. Karthik Sathyamoorthy, president of AG&P Terminals & Logistics, said, "We are privileged to work with ADNOC L&S, one of the world's leaders in LNG logistics with an extensive, state-of-the-art, highly-maintained fleet. Both of our companies will work very closely to provide a comprehensive LNG solution for our downstream customers through the Karaikal LNG facility.

"AG&P has focused on bringing down the unit cost of regasification terminals for smaller volumes. AG&P and ADNOC L&S are excited to reach this critical goal for our customers."

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