Shell closes purchase of French firm Total's 26% stake in Hazira LNG

Anglo-Dutch oil multinational Royal Dutch Shell's Indian arm on Wednesday said it has completed the acquisition of French oil major Total SA's 26 per cent stake in the company that operates the Hazira liquefied natural gas (LNG) terminal in Gujarat.

Shell Energy India, however, did not disclose the consideration involved in acquiring the stake in the five million tonnes per annum capacity LNG terminal in Hazira.

"Shell Gas B.V., a subsidiary of Royal Dutch Shell plc, announced today (Wednesday) that it has completed acquisition of 26 per cent equity interest in the Hazira LNG and Port venture in India from Total Gaz Electricite Holdings France," a statement by Shell Energy India said.

"This brings Shell's equity interest in the venture to 100 per cent".

According to Shell, the move allows the company to build an integrated gas value chain consisting of supply from its global LNG portfolio, regasification at the Hazira facility, and downstream customer sales.

"It further enables Shell to contribute towards India's long-term need for more and cleaner energy solutions," the statement said.

Shell had in August 2018 announced the deal involving the Hazira LNG and Port venture which comprises two companies -- Hazira LNG that operates an LNG regasification terminal in Gujarat and Hazira Port, which manages a direct berthing multi-cargo port at Hazira.

The move will allow Shell commercial and operational flexibility over Hazira to maximise integrated value and offer creative customer value propositions, the company said.

"Having commercial and operational flexibility over Hazira will further enable Shell to offer better customer value propositions and build a pan-India gas business," the statement said.

Shell invested in the Hazira project 15 years ago, making it the single largest foreign direct investment for India in the energy sector at the time, it added.

Commenting on the development, Shell Energy Asia Vice President Ajay Shah said in a statement: I am very proud that as a 100 per cent shareholder, we will now be able to utilise this great infrastructure asset to its full potential and help provide much needed gas to serve the growing energy needs of India."

Shell Energy India was established in 2017 to aggregate demand from downstream customers and secure competitive international supply to meet such demand, the company said.

--IANS

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