India Rises as World's 4th Largest LNG Importer

India is ranked as the world's fourth biggest importer of LNG. The government aims to raise the proportion of natural gas in the nation's main energy sources to 15% by 2030, up from the current 6%. The government-owned company GAIL has entered a 10-year deal with ADNOC Gas from the UAE to buy a maximum of 0.52 MMTPA of liquefied natural gas annually.

GAIL announced in a statement that the delivery of LNG will commence in 2026. ADNOC Gas will transport the shipments from its Das Island plant, which can process 6.0 million metric tons of LNG per year.

“India is witnessing a growing demand for LNG to meet its increasing natural gas demand in a diversified sectoral pattern. GAIL plans to significantly increase its term LNG portfolio in the coming years to meet this rising demand,” said Sanjay Kumar, director (marketing), GAIL.

“This agreement reflects our ambition to capture future growth opportunities in gas demand,” said Rashid Khalfan Al Mazrouei, senior vice president(marketing), ADNOC Gas.

GAIL (India) Limited is a state-owned energy company in India that focuses mainly on natural gas trading, transportation, and distribution. GAIL is also involved in the exploration and production of solar and wind power, as well as telecom and telemetry services (GAILTEL) and electricity generation.

GAIL was established in August 1984 as the Gas Authority of India Ltd. under the Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Gas with the purpose of constructing, managing, and upkeeping the HVJ Gas Pipeline. On 1 February 2013, the Indian government granted GAIL Maharatna status, along with 11 other Public Sector Undertakings (PSUs).