India Keen to Import More Oz LNG: Minister

India is open to increasing LNG imports from Australia, country’s petroleum and natural gas minister Dharmendra Pradhan said August 28 after a meeting with Australian minister for resources and Northern Australia, Matthew Canavan in New Delhi. 

Pradhan said that India is already an importer of LNG from Australia and given India’s major initiatives to move into a gas-based economy, there is significant scope for expanding LNG imports from Australia. He also mentioned that Indian consumer is price sensitive, and therefore affordability of LNG imports from Australia will be an important factor in enhancing cooperation in this area.

India’s Petronet has a long term contract to source LNG from Gorgon project in Western Australia. As per the 20-year contract, around 1.5mn metric tons/year of LNG from Gorgon is sold into India.  

The south Asia country is looking to up the share of gas in the energy mix from 6.2% at present to 15% by 2030. India’s LNG import and regasification capacity of 38.8mn mt/year will be augmented to 52.5mn mt/yr in next three to four years, Pradhan said at a recent event in New Delhi.