Qatar not keen to renegotiate LNG contracts with India

NEW DELHI: Qatar is not willing to renegotiate prices under its long-term liquefied natural gas (LNG) contracts with India, the Middle Eastern nation’s energy minister said on Monday.

Qatar is, however, willing to supply more volumes of LNG to India, said Saad Sherida al-Kaabi, who is in India to meet his counterpart, at an event in New Delhi.

India, which imports 8.5 million tonnes of LNG annually under long-term supply deals with Qatar, was looking to renegotiate the long-term contract price of LNG it buys from Qatar, Indian oil minister Dharmendra Pradhan said earlier on Monday.

Kaabi, who is also the chief executive of Qatar Petroleum, was accompanied by the chief executive of Qatar Gas, Sheikh Khalid bin Khalifa Al Thani.

Delivered spot prices to Indian ports are about half of those under the long-term LNG deals, reducing the appeal of the Qatar supply contracts for price sensitive Indian consumers.

In 2015, India managed to renegotiate the contract price of LNG imported from Qatar to half of what it was paying earlier.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi has said India needs to increase the share of natural gas in its energy mix to 15% by 2030 from 6.5% now.