By the OGJ Online Staff
MUMBAI, Aug. 29 -- BG Group PLC has bought Sea King Infrastructure group's 25% share of its Pipavav LNG port venture on the Gujarat coast for 3.75 billion rupees ($79.8 million).
That brings its share to 50%. National Thermal Power Corp. holds 26% and the other 24% will be picked up by either the Gujarat state government or financial institutions.
The Pipavav LNG terminal was planned to have a capacity of 5.3 million tones/year (OGJ Online, May 12, 2001). BG plans to invest at least $770 million to increase capacity to 10 million tonnes.
BG has also agreed in principle to buy Enron Corp.'s 30% stake in the Panna, Mukta, and Tapti oil and gas fields for $340 million. The BG offer is contingent upon it becoming operator. Oil & Natural Gas Corp., which has 40% of the fields, also wants to be operator. ONGC has withdrawn a $400 million bid for Enron's stake (OGJ Online, Aug. 20, 2001).