NEW DELHI, Jan 15 (Reuters) - Royal Dutch Shell Plc will take a 26 percent stake in the planned Kakinada liquefiednatural gas terminal on the east coast, an official at partnerIndian gas firm GAIL said, slightly higher than previouslyproposed.
Gaz de France already has a 26 percent stake in the project,while Andhra Pradesh Gas Distribution Company in which GAIL Gas,a subsidiary of GAIL (India), has a stake will havethe remaining 48 percent share.
Shell was in talks with Andhra Pradesh state government tobuy up to 24 percent stake in the project, GAIL chairman B.C.Tripathi said last year.
Shell, GDF and GAIL on Thursday also signed an agreement toprocure LNG for the project.
The 3.5-million-tonne a year floating storage andregasification unit (FSRU), was conceived in 2012.
"We can operate the FSRU at an annual capacity of 5 milliontonnes." Prabhat Singh, head of marketing at GAIL (India) toldreporters.
He said a decision had yet to be taken whether to lease theFSRU or buy it.
Shell in 2012 signed a preliminary deal with Reliance Powerto build an LNG terminal in Andhra Pradesh but the Indian firmbacked out of the project in 2013.
The peak power deficit in Southern India stood at 8.7percent in April-December, according to a government report, asmany plants operate below capacity because of fuel shortages.
As much as 24,148 megawatts of gas-based generation capacityhave been stranded because of a lack of fuel, a governmentstatement said in September last year.
Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi's government iscommitted to providing uninterrupted power to all India by theend of its five-year term. (Reporting by Nidhi Verma, editing by William Hardy)
