
Since early 2013 all of the LNG export capacity at the coming Cove Point LNG facility (on the shore of Maryland) has been spoken for--by India and Japan (see
Dominion’s Cove Point LNG Facility Achieves Important Milestones). Cove Point is scheduled to go online late this year, with shipments heading to India beginning in January 2018. GAIL India, the state-owned entity contracted with Dominion/Cove Point for LNG from the plant, has known about the coming date for the past four years. They will need numerous ships to ferry Cove Point LNG to India. So GAIL put out the word several years ago for companies to build nine ships total--to handle LNG exports from both Cove Point and Cheniere Energy's Sabine Pass facility, along the Gulf Coast. One of the requirements for the project is that three of the nine has to be built in India--"Made in India". They got no takers, and so now GAIL is scrambling to try and lease ships for the "short term" (3-4 years) so they can begin shipping on time...
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