"We are talking to them for picking up stake in Hazira. The picture would be clearer by January and a deal is possible by the end of this fiscal," M B Lal, chairman and managing director, HPCL said.
Lal said HPCL was in talks with Shell for the equity but there were various issues such as valuation of the stake and the LNG supply that needed to be looked into.
HPCL is believed to be interested in acquiring a 25 per cent stake in the terminal. Lal, however, refused to specify but said it was a good opportunity for the government-run refining and marketing company as it does not have a presence in the LNG business so far.
Shell is unlikely to offload more than 25 per cent since its own equity would then fall to less than 51 per cent. Shell had started marketing LNG from the Hazira terminal earlier this year but has so far found few takers on account of the high prices it was charging.
The terminal has a capacity of 2.5 million tonnes per annum but is currently being under-utilised because of lack of customers.
GAIL chairman Prashanto Banerjee said they had also approached Shell for picking up a stake in Hazira but received no response from the multinational energy major.
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