Page 8 - AsianOil Week 08 2023

AsianOil PIPELINES & TRANSPORT AsianOil

India’s GAIL may buy stake in US LNG

export facility

INDIA GAIL (Gas Authority of India Ltd), India’s largest In 2012, GAIL signed a 20-year contract with
gas distributor, is mulling whether to buy a max- Gazprom Marketing and Trading Singapore
India is anxious to imum 26% equity stake in a US-based export purchases of on average of 2.5mn tpy of LNG.
lock in long-term LNG project for LNG or a liquefaction plant. This is GAIL saw a decrease of quarterly profit of
supply. according to a document on GAIL’s website. almost 93% in the fourth quarter of 2022 because
The plan can be currently operating or due to of lower gas sales caused by supply disruptions.
start operations by 2027. State-owned GAIL is currently negotiat-
GAIL or its affiliates are also interested in ing with Abu Dhabi National Oil Company
sourcing 1mn tonnes per year (tpy) of LNG (ADNOC) and other companies for LNG, it
from the plant on a free on-board (FOB) basis has said. “Probably we will get a better deal,” the
for 15 years, said the document. The supplies are company’s head of finance, Rakesh Kumar Jain,
expected to begin in the last quarter of 2026. The told analysts in late January.
LNG supply contract period could be extended Jain also said that in 2023 GAIL will divert
by 5-10 years, said GAIL. eight extra cargoes of LNG from the global mar-
The Indian company has set March 10, 2023 ket and bring them to India instead. “We get 90
as the deadline for potential bids for LNG supply. cargoes from the USA and we intend to bring all
It currently has long-term supply contracts of them to India,” he said.
with two US-based LNG export plants. India is seeking to boost its import capacity
GAIL is looking to sign more long-term gas for LNG so that the share of natural gas in the
import agreements because of disrupted gas country’s total energy mix climbs to 15% by
supplies because a unit of Russia-owned Gaz- 2030, up from a current 6%, the prime minster,
prom was unable to deliver LNG to GAIL after Narendra Modi, said in a press conference in
Western sanctions were imposed on Moscow. January. ™

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