GAIL Mulls "Time-Swap” Deals to Advance US Shale Gas Imports

GAIL India plans to strike a “time-swap” deal with US shale gas suppliers so that it can import shale gas by 2015-16, ahead of 2017-18 for which contracts are in place, reports Business Standard.

“Not too many companies have done this globally. We are in talks with many players in the US now regarding this,” said Prabhat Kumar Singh, director (marketing) at GAIL India.

GAIL has contracted 3.5 million tonnes per annum (mtpa) of LNG from US based Cheniere Energy Partners for 20 years. The company has a second 2.3-mtpa LNG deal with Dominion Energy from the latter's LNG plant in the US.

“We have to offer them something which is commercially attractive. In LNG, physical swap of spot cargo happens normally. But time-swapping in global market is one of its kind,” Business Standard quotes Singh as saying.

The time-swapping deal would be replaced once its contract period starts or production starts in the US, the newspaper added.

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