NEW DELHI: India’s biggest gas firm GAIL on Friday said it has signed a deal to buy about 1 million tonne per annum of LNG from Dutch energy trader Vitol for 10 years starting 2026.
‘’Under this deal, Vitol will deliver LNG from its global LNG portfolio to GAIL in India on a pan-India basis,’’ the company said in a statement. LNG is natural gas, extracted from below surface, that has been cooled down to liquid form for ease and safety of non-pressurised storage or transport.
GAIL will import LNG in cryogenic ships and turn it back into its gaseous state before piping it to users that may include power plants for generating electricity, fertilizer units for producing crop nutrients or city gas operators for selling to automobiles as CNG or piping to household kitchens for cooking.
The company said it and Vitol Asia Pte Ltd have signed a long-term LNG deal but did not give pricing and other commercial details. ‘’This long-term LNG deal with Vitol will augment GAIL’s large LNG portfolio and will contribute to bridging India’s demand and supply gap for natural gas,’’ GAIL chairman and managing director Sandeep Kumar Gupta said.
India imports roughly half of its gas needs as local production is insufficient to meet demand.