By America Hernandez
PARIS – French oil major TotalEnergies has signed a deal to supply the Gujarat State Petroleum Corporation with 400,000 metric tons of liquefied natural gas annually, beginning next year, the companies said on Wednesday.
The deal with the Indian state-owned firm was announced on the sidelines of India Energy Week, and amounts to six LNG cargoes per year destined for mostly industrial customers.
India, currently the world’s fourth-largest LNG buyer, will have to double annual imports by the end of the decade to meet rising demand from rapid urbanisation and industrialisation, the International Energy Agency said this week.
The Indian government has set a target for natural gas to reach 15% of the country’s energy mix, up from 6.2% today.
GSPC said in a joint statement that the contract with Total aligned with its strategy to build up a long-term LNG portfolio and become a leading gas trader in India.
TotalEnergies has said the fast-growing Indian market is core to its growth strategy. It must also secure buyers to balance out the large amount of U.S. LNG it has contracted to purchase over the coming decade.
Last year Total signed a raft of long-term deals with mostly Asian buyers, including one with the Indian Oil Corporation.
(Reporting by America Hernandez in Paris, Editing by Louise Heavens and Jan Harvey)
