DOHA: Qatar has agreed to supply India’s Petronet with liquefied natural gas (LNG) for 20 years, the Gulf emirate’s state-owned energy firm announced on Tuesday.

QatarEnergy will supply 7.5 million tonnes of LNG per year to government-owned Petronet destined for India under the deal, the Qatari company said in a statement.

“This agreement is another key milestone in the long-standing energy partnership between Qatar and India and comes on the heels of the 20th anniversary of the first LNG shipment to India,” Energy Minister Saad al-Kaabi, QatarEnergy’s CEO said.

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The first deliveries of gas to India by QatarEnergy’s LNG fleet are due from May 2028.

“We believe that this new agreement… will further strengthen the relationship with India and support its vision to increase the contribution of natural gas in its energy mix,” Kaabi said.

Qatar is one of the world’s top LNG producers alongside the United States, Australia and Russia.

Asian countries led by China, Japan and South Korea have been the main market for Qatari gas, but demand has also risen from European countries since Russia’s war on Ukraine threw supplies into doubt.

The agreement follows a flurry of announcements for longterm Qatari gas supply deals with China’s Sinopec, France’s Total, Britain’s Shell and Italy’s Eni, all announced last year.

At the end of January, QatarEnergy announced a deal with US-based Excelerate Energy to supply Bangladesh with 1.5 million tonnes per year of LNG for 15 years.