Reuters are reporting that GAIL (India) Ltd has renegotiated the terms of a long-term LNG purchase deal with Russia’s Gazprom, in the third such negotiation by India to make the imported fuel affordable to its price-sensitive customers.
India has been leveraging its position as one of the biggest energy consumers to strike better bargains for its companies.
India has in the past renegotiated LNG deals with Qatar’s RasGas and Exxon Mobil Corp, as spot prices declined substantially amid a supply glut.
GAIL signed the deal with Gazprom Marketing & Trading Singapore in 2012 to buy 2.5 million t of LNG per year for 20 years on a delivered basis. The supplies are scheduled to start in the second quarter of 2018.
This is a step for GAIL to diversify its LNG portfolio by spreading price reference indexes across multiple geographies, so as to provide consumers a greater flexibility in service.
The company has also signed contracts for sourcing up to 5.8 million t of LNG from the US.
It is renegotiating its LNG purchase deals with US-based Cheniere Energy and Dominion Cove Point.