India Ready to Join Asian LNG Consortium: Oil Minister

Indian oil minister Dharmendra Pradhan has indicated that New Delhi is keen to be part of any consortium that would help make LNG sourcing more affordable for Asian buyers, Business Standard reported March 24.

“China and India are the biggest consumers in the region. India will be keen to be part of any kind of consumer-centric common strategy. I am not ruling out India joining the consortium,” the minister told journalists when asked about coming together of Japanese Jera, Chinese Cnooc and South Korean Kogas, the newspaper reported.

Jera March 23 announced it has inked a memorandum of understanding to pool resources with Kogas and Cnooc relating to LNG. The three large LNG Asian buyers will look at joint procurement of LNG, joint participation in upstream projects and co-operation relating to LNG shipping and storage.

With international prices low, Indian LNG buyers have ramped up imports. India’s LNG imports witnessed a sharp 19.2% year-on-year rise in February. Imports in February were 2.1bn m³, latest data published by oil ministry’s Petroleum Planning and Analysis Cell showed. During the current fiscal year (which ends on March 31), India’s LNG imports were up by 16.4% on year at 22.5bn m³.

Shardul Sharma