GAIL aims to buy stake in US LNG plant or line up long-term supply deals
GAIL India Ltd (GAIL.NS), will are searching for to buy a stake in a U.S. Liquefied natural gas plant or secure long-time period U.S. LNG supply after the Trump administration lifted a ban on export permits for new ventures, chairman Sandeep Kumar Gupta stated.
“Their (Washington’s) decision to raise the ban will enhance LNG deliver and we can restore our plans to either purchase a stake or buy U.S. LNG underneath long-term deals,” Gupta informed Reuters in advance of the India Energy Week.
He stated the enterprise would make a decision after retaining a tendering process for lengthy-term LNG purchases.
India is the world’s fourth largest LNG importer and aim to elevate the share of gas in the nations energy mix to 15% via 2030 from 6.2% currently. GAIL is India’s top gas distributor.
GAIL needed to stall its 2023 process to buy for a stake of as much as 26% in an LNG plant in the United States after then-President Joe Biden paused approvals for pending and future applications to export LNG from new venture.
Gupta stated global LNG prices should soften after 2026 as new ventures are expected to come on circulate within the U.S. And some other place, including to supply.
Asia spot LNG prices hit a two-month high last week at near $15 per million British thermal units, tracking a rally in European gas prices. Ample delivery will be coming from the U.S. And Qatar later this decade to cap prices, analysts say.
The U.S. Is predicted to almost double its LNG export potential by the end of the decade, while Qatar plans to increase its liquefaction capacity to 142 million metric tons per year by 2027 from 77 million.
Gas consumption in India is anticipated to rise to over 500 million standard cubic metres a day (mmscmd) through 2030, Indian oil minister Hardeep Singh Puri stated last year.
India’s gas consumption rose by about 12.5% to approximately 185 mmscmd in monetary year 2024 from the preceding year, in step with the oil ministry’s Petroleum Planning and Analysis Cell.
Gupta stated India’s intake will boom sharply if the government brings gas into the goods and services tax regime, rather of the multiple taxes on gas at present, to make price inexpensive and uniform across the country.
GAIL has contracted to buy 15.5 million tpy of LNG which include supplies from the U.S., Qatar, Australia, and traders Vitol and Adnoc, consistent with its annual record for 2023-24.
Its long-term period offers with enterprises in the U.S. Including the buy of 5.8 million tpy LNG, divide between Berkshire Hathaway Energy’s Cove Point plant and Cheniere Energy’s (LNG.N), Sabine Pass site in Louisiana.
It also offered a five-year tender to Qatar for the bought one LNG cargo a month from April, assets stated in December.
