By Nidhi Verma
NEW DELHI (Reuters) – Indian Oil Corp, the country’s top refiner, has agreed to a five-year liquefied natural gas (LNG) import deal with trader Trafigura, with prices linked to the U.S. Henry Hub benchmark, three trade sources said on Wednesday.
Trafigura will supply three to four LNG cargoes this year and six cargoes annually from next year, said one of the sources.
No immediate comment was available from Trafigura and Indian Oil.
India is looking to raise its imports of U.S. energy to fix its trade balance with the world’s top economy and traders are looking to reroute some of the LNG meant for China into India, one of the sources said.
India is the world’s fourth-largest LNG importer, shipping in 26.58 million metric tons of the fuel last year, according to Kpler data.
The U.S. is India’s second-biggest supplier but the two sides are looking to ramp up volumes for India’s energy-hungry economy, one of the fastest growing in the world.
Reuters reported in March that India is considering a proposal to scrap import taxes on U.S. LNG to boost purchases and cut its trade surplus with Washington.
LNG importer GAIL India had also recently issued a tender seeking a stake in an LNG project in the U.S., along with a 15-year import deal.
(Reporting by Nidhi Verma in New Delhi, additional reporting by Emily Chow in Singapore; Editing by Christian Schmollinger and Savio D’Souza)
