Qatar to up LNG sale to India from Nov - Petronet

By Nidhi Verma

NEW DELHI (Reuters) - Qatar's RasGas will raise liquefied natural gas (LNG) supplies to India by 50 percent from November, a top official at gas importer Petronet LNG said on Thursday, but that will still leave scope for spot purchases.

The booming economies of China and India have propped up the long-term outlook of LNG market, as demand from traditional buyers such as South Korea and Japan has eased due to the rise in alternative energy sources such as nuclear power and coal.

At present Petronet imports 5 million tonnes of LNG every year from RasGas under a long-term deal, and supplies were to be raised to 7.5 million tonnes from the last quarter of 2009.

"It is 100 percent. Certainly we will receive it from November," Chief Executive Officer P. Dasgupta told reporters.

"India is always going to be driven by supply and not by demand".

Despite the start in April of output from Reliance Industries' huge gas find in its D6 block, which will eventually double local output, India will still have a gas deficit.

"Contrary to our nervousness about D6 gas, in April-June, D6 gas coming in to the tune of almost 25-30 mmscmd (million cubic metres a day), we sold a record 98 trillion British thermal units (tBtu) compared to 78 tBtu year ago," Dasgupta said.

He said Petronet's 10 million tonne a year Dahej terminal in western India could regassify 160 cargoes per year, and the enhanced RasGas supplies would translate to 120 cargoes. Its short-term supply deal with BP will end next month.