Japan’s Mitsui O.S.K. Lines (MOL) will operate two very large ethane carriers that India’s Oil and Natural Gas Corporation (ONGC) plans to deploy for petrochemical feedstock imports from mid-2028.
The two companies are still negotiating the equity structure of a joint venture that will own the vessels; MOL is expected to take a majority stake. The update revives a July disclosure by ONGC, which told stock exchanges it had “signed a Heads of Agreement … to build, own and operate two Very Large Ethane Carriers” with MOL, while noting the arrangement remains subject to ONGC board approval.
The ships are expected to be built at South Korean yards. The carriers will move ethane for ONGC Petro additions Ltd (OPaL) at Dahej, Gujarat. ONGC has said it intends to secure around 800,000 tonnes per year of ethane beginning May–June 2028 to feed OPaL’s dual-feed cracker, a shift tied to India’s renewed LNG supply from Qatar from 2028, when the contract moves to lean gas with ethane and propane largely stripped out.
OPaL’s Dahej complex—commissioned in 2017—houses a 1.1-million-tonnes-per-year ethylene cracker and 0.4-million-tonnes-per-year propylene capacity, along with downstream polymer units. ONGC now owns 95.69% of OPaL after a government-cleared recapitalisation last year, which converted debentures and added fresh equity. Upstream of the petchem site, ONGC earlier built a C2/C3 extraction facility at Dahej—an investment of about ₹1,500 crore in 2008–09—to recover ethane and propane from LNG; the shift to leaner LNG has eroded that feedstock stream and prompted the import plan.
In February, ONGC invited global partners with proven large-gas-carrier and LNG experience to co-invest in VLECs, with the joint venture to arrange finance and yard selection and ONGC to charter the tonnage. The July heads-of-agreement with MOL formalised that trajectory; this week’s reports add that MOL will take the operator’s role once the ships deliver.
Mitsui O.S.K. Lines, Ltd. (MOL) is a corporation organized under the laws of Japan engaged in ocean shipping and related maritime services.
Oil and Natural Gas Corporation Limited (ONGC) is an Indian corporation established under Indian law that explores for and produces oil and natural gas and conducts related activities.