Qatar to supply India additional LNG

Qatar has agreed to supply an additional 4 million tonnes of liquefied natural gas (LNG) to India by 2013 as the energy-deficient country expands its capacity to handle imports, Indian officials said on Monday. Qatar, which already supplies 7.5 million tonnes a year, is likely to increase shipments by 300,000 tonnes this year with additional supplies rising gradually to 4 million tonnes by 2013, India's oil secretary, S. Sundareshan, told reporters.
The price at which the additional LNG will be supplied has not been decided yet, Sundareshan said on the sidelines of a gas conference. Additional supplies would be imported at the Dahej terminal of Petronet LNG and the Dabhol terminal of GAIL India, which is likely to be commissioned later this year, he said.
Oil minister Murli Deora told the conference that India's capacity to handle imported LNG was likely to rise to 20 million tonnes a year by 2011/12, from about 13 million tonnes now. On Sunday Qatar's oil minister, Abdullah al-Attiyah, said in New Delhi he hoped India's Petronet LNG and GAIL would finalise a deal with Qatar's RasGas in the next few weeks.