LNG Import: India will sign an agreement worth $78 billion to increase LNG import from Qatar, the deal will be done in Goa.

India may sign a $78 billion deal to increase LNG imports from Qatar by 2048 at rates lower than current prices. This information has been given quoting sources. Petronet LNG Ltd will sign agreement with Qatar Energy to increase imports by 75 lakh tonnes per annum on the occasion of India Energy Week (IEW) in Goa.

Qatar’s Energy Minister and top officials of Qatar Energy are participating in the IEW here. Sources said the prices will be “significantly” lower than the current price.

Sources said Petronet currently imports 85 lakh tonnes of LNG (liquefied natural gas) per year from Qatar under two contracts. The first 25-year agreement is to expire in 2028 and is now being extended for 20 additional years. The second agreement of 10 lakh tonnes per year, signed in 2015, will be negotiated separately.

India is the world’s third largest energy consumer. With a goal of achieving ‘net zero’ carbon emissions by 2070, it sees natural gas as a suitable transition fuel.

‘Net zero’ means that a country is absorbing and removing as much carbon-based greenhouse gases into the atmosphere as it is emitting them. That means its contribution of greenhouse gases to the atmosphere should be negligible.

Sources said the new agreement will allow Indian buyers to decide which terminal in India to supply to. Under the existing agreement, Qatar supplies LNG to Daheh in Gujarat.