By IANS,
New Delhi : India Wednesday offered a 10 percent stake in Petronet LNG Ltd, the state-run procurer of liquefied natural gas (LNG), to Qatar.
Petroleum Minister Murli Deora made the offer to visiting Qatari deputy premier and energy minister, Abdullah Bin Hamad Al-Attiyah, at a breakfast meeting here. The offer was made after the Arab kingdom agreed to increase LNG supply to India.
Qatar has already assured additional supply of 600,000 tonnes of LNG to India, its largest customer.
Four state-run energy companies (GAIL India, Oil and Natural Gas Corp, Indian Oil Corp and Bharat Petroleum Corp) each have a 12.5 percent equity share in Petronet, while GDF International, a wholly-owned subsidiary of French national gas company Gaz De France, owns 10 percent and the Asian Development Bank controls 5.2 percent.
The public holds the balance equity of 34.8 percent.
“This is a proposal that we made and in turn we will get a stake in RasGas,” Deora said. RasGas is a leading Qatari LNG producer.
“We will put this proposal to our relevant department and they will take a decision,” the Qatari premier said. “Petronet is one of the major players, it is one of the great stories of success.”
He said Qatar was committed to its long-term consumers, especially India.