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India’s Reliance signs deal with Japan firm to ship ethane imports
December 25, 2014, 7:25 am

File photo of Mukesh Ambani, chairman of Reliance Industries Ltd [Xinhua]

File photo of Mukesh Ambani, chairman of Reliance Industries Ltd [Xinhua]

Indian energy giant Reliance Industries Ltd (RIL) on Thursday said it has signed an agreement with Japan’s Mitsui OSK Lines Ltd for shipping liquefied ethane from North America to India.

RIL said it has signed shipping agreements with one of the world’s largest and reputed shipping companies Mitsui.

“Mitsui will supervise the construction of six Very Large Ethane Carriers (VLECs), ordered by Reliance. Mitsui will also operate and manage the vessels after they are built and delivered,” the company said in a statement here.

It however did not give out the investment or the cost involved in hiring of the vessels.

“Reliance, with this strategic tie-up with Mitsui, has achieved a key milestone for the successful implementation of Ethane import project to feed crackers in India,” the statement said.

The Indian energy giant said in August this year it will source 1.5 million tonnes of ethane a year from the United States as feedstock for its crackers in India.

The company has executed storage and capacity agreements for liquefaction and export of ethane with a North American terminal, which is expected to commence operations in the second half of 2016.

Earlier on Wednesday, Reliance and BP Plc. relinquished an oil and gas block off India’s east coast citing land restrictions imposed by the India’s Ministry of Defence that ruled out further exploration in the area and inhibited further investment.

Reliance and its partners won the exploration licence for the D-3 block in the Krishna Godavari basin off India’s east coast in 2005 and have spent more than $220 million so far in the exploration phase

Source: Agencies