Doha – Mubasher: India’s oil minister Dharmendra Pradhan on Tuesday stated that the country would sign future long-term liquefied natural gas (LNG) agreements with Qatar if the latter approves to acquire stakes in India’s power plants, Reuters reported.

"Yesterday, we have given a firm proposal to Qatar. If they want to have a long-term off-take assurance, there is a window. They can deal with our stranded power plants, from end to end they can give some solution," Pradhan added.

"It won't be quid pro quo but mutual interest...They can share the profit of those power plants," the Indian oil minister noted, adding that his country wants to enhance its relations with Qatar.

According to Reuters, some of India’s power plants had been facing shutdowns or operated at a lower capacity due to shortages in natural gas, which prompted the country to work on turning into a gas-based economy. This plan also includes “[raising] annual LNG import capacity to 50 million tonnes in the next few years from 21 million tonnes now”.

Prabaht Singh, CEO of India’s largest gas importer Petronet LNG, believes that India could be a “stable outlet” for Qatar’s LNG, assuring that the latter needed to quickly make up its mind on the offer it received from India, according to the agency.

Petronet imports 8.5 million tonnes of LNG per year under long-term contracts, while acquiring the rest from Qatar through spot deals.