By Nidhi Verma
NEW DELHI (Reuters) – GAIL India Ltd issued a tender on Friday to buy an up to 26% stake in a liquefied natural gas project in the United States combined with a 15-year gas import deal, aiding New Delhi’s efforts to narrow its trade surplus with Washington.
India is racing to become one of the first to agree a trade deal with the United States, as President Donald Trump’s announcement of sweeping tariffs has triggered a trade war with China and efforts by other countries to negotiate.
Trump has made clear he regards U.S. gas as a bargaining chip.
India’s largest gas distributor GAIL has invited initial bids from companies as it seeks to buy equity in an existing LNG liquefication project or a new project that would be commissioned by 2030 at the latest, the document published on its website showed.
The United States is already the second biggest supplier to India, one of the fastest growing economies in the world. Qatar is the biggest LNG supplier to India.
State-run GAIL wants 1 million metric tons per year of LNG from a plant in the U.S. on a free-on-board basis for a period of 15 years, it said, adding the deal could be extended by five to 10 years.
The document also showed GAIL wants to start taking LNG from the U.S. project by 2029-2030. The last date for the U.S. projects to submit bids is April 28.
To boost its U.S. energy imports, India is also considering scrapping its import tax on U.S. LNG to make it more price competitive, and help trim its $45.7 billion trade surplus with the U.S.
GAIL had to stall a similar process in 2023 to buy a stake in a U.S. LNG plant after then-President Joe Biden banned export permits for pending and new LNG projects.
The Indian company has revived the tender as Trump’s administration has lifted the ban.
India is the world’s fourth largest LNG importer and aims to raise the share of gas in the country’s energy mix to 15% by 2030 from 6.2% now.
GAIL has contracted to buy 15.5 million tons annually of LNG, including supplies from the Australia, Qatar and the United States and traders Vitol and Adnoc, according to its annual report for 2023-24.
Its long-term deals with companies in the U.S. include the purchase of 5.8 million tons per year of LNG, split between Berkshire Hathaway Energy’s Cove Point plant and Cheniere Energy’s Sabine Pass site in Louisiana.
(Reporting by Nidhi Verma; editing by Barbara Lewis)
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