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Looking to secure natural gas supplies in the face of rapidly growing demand, Indian oil and gas companies inked three long-term liquefied natural gas (LNG) import deals with global majors worth billions of dollars at the country’s flagship energy event India Energy Week. The deals include long-term contracts by public sector refiners Indian Oil Corporation (IOC) and Bharat Petroleum Corporation (BPCL) with the Abu Dhabi National Oil Company (ADNOC), and Gujarat State Petroleum Corporation’s (GSPC) deal with French major TotalEnergies.
IOC, which is India’s largest refiner and fuel retailer, signed a “$7-9 billion agreement” with ADNOC’s arm ADNOC Gas to import 1.2 million tonnes per annum (mtpa) of LNG for 14 years, starting 2026, according to a statement by ADNOC Gas.
According to information provided by India’s petroleum Ministry, BPCL will buy 2.4 million tonnes of LNG from ADNOC over five years, starting April 2025. The agreement is extendable by another five years with mutual consent, the ministry said, but did not divulge the financial details of the deal. TotalEnergies signed a 10-year deal to sell 400,000 tonnes per annum of LNG to GPSC, starting 2026, the French energy giant said, without providing financial details of the contract.
According to Petroleum Minister Hardeep Singh Puri, all the deals were signed at attractive prices, which are lower than the prevailing market rates. The minister added that these contracts are “significant steps” that will contribute to India’s goal of increasing the share of natural gas in the primary energy mix to 15 per cent by 2030 from a little over 6 per cent at present.
Over the past couple of years, Indian oil and gas companies have inked additional LNG import deals with global suppliers, and continue to be in the market for more long-term supply contracts. According to Puri, global suppliers are keen to sell LNG to India. The country’s natural gas demand is expected to see a significant jump by the end of this decade, which in turn is set to lead to a surge in LNG imports. India already depends on imports to meet around half of its natural gas demand.
India is already among the top LNG importers in the world, and already has long-term LNG import contracts with suppliers from Qatar, US, Australia, and the UAE. Given limited domestic production of natural gas, the growth in gas consumption is expected to be driven by higher LNG imports. Over the years, India has been expanding LNG import and regasification capacity to support higher imports of the fuel.
According to latest estimates by Paris-based International Energy Agency (IEA), India’s gas consumption is seen rising nearly 60 per cent over to 2023 levels to 103 billion cubic metres (bcm), while LNG imports are set to more than double between 2023 and 2030 to 65 bcm a year, driven by steady demand growth and a much slower rise in domestic production.
