| India today opened its doors to a new technology for transportation of natural gas, with state-owned GAIL India entering into a memorandum of agreement (MoA) with Antwerp-based Exmar Marine for using its on-board LNG regasification technology for import of liquefied natural gas (LNG).
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| Addressing a gathering at the signing ceremony, Petroleum Minister Mani Shanker Aiyar said the agreement has opened up a possibility for concluding a gas sales agreement with neighbouring Myanmar since the item can now be transported either as compressed natural gas or LNG.
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| The signing of the MoA could also mean the LNG and CNG options were now a serious challenge to a pipeline through Bangladesh, though GAIL chairman and managing director Proshanto Bannerjee said the feasibility of the different options were yet to be established.“Other options are not closed,” he said.
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| GAIL plans to forge an alliance with Exmar and another company, Enersea, for getting gas from Myanmar.
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| Enersea has pioneered the technology of bringing in compressed natural gas on ships.
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| Aiyar said the technology could also be used for getting a few cargoes for restarting the Dabhol power project. Bannerjee added later that since a regasification terminal was already in place at the project site, the use of Exmar technology might not be the best option.
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| Conventional LNG ships, which cost around $235 million at current prices, require setting up of a liquifaction terminal at the loading point and a regasification terminal at the unloading point. The Exmar technology consists of a conventional vessel modified to regasify LNG on board.
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| The modified ship roughly costs about $285 million, which translates into a $50-million difference. A regasification terminal would cost $618 million at the 2009 rate, said GAIL executives, adding that the Exmar technology was cheaper than the conventional LNG technology. |
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