Officials of some public sector energy companies said that formal conversations with the US on a possible long -term contracts with the US, despite the recent rally in the purchase of crude oil and natural gas from the US.
The Donald Trump administration is eager to negotiate with American producers on the terms of India's fixed contracts, while both India's oil marketing companies (OMCs) and gas importers said they are still considering options.
The sudden increase in energy imports from the US has occurred at a time when the spots of liquefied natural gas (LNG) are going to fall soon as the new amount is about to come. At the same time, due to fear of falling industrial demand due to war, the price of Brent crude reached a 3 -year low in early March. Officials said that because of this, government companies are in a position to look and wait.
An official associated with the public sector refinery said, “Oil imports have increased in January (from the US). But this was done to meet the needs due to the decrease in imports from Russia. Certainly the purchase of oil from the spot market of America will increase if there is no relief in the ban on Russia. But to start a discussion on fixed contracts, it will be needed to assess the situation.
According to the previous week data from the Commodity Market Analyst firm Capler, the import of crude oil from the US has increased by 3.2 times on a monthly basis in January to 2,79,000 barrels per day.
The import of crude oil from the US has been increasing since the first term of Trump. Statistics show that in FY 2021, oil imports from the US increased to 9 percent of India's total imports, which was 0.7 percent in FY 2018. A senior Petroleum Ministry official said that the US started emphasizing on increasing natural gas exports, focusing all official talks to non.
He said, 'They also want to export crude oil. But so far the priority has been on the intensity of American LNG properties. Supply agreements also need to be finalized fast, as all producers are going to increase production. '
The US is the largest LNG exporter of LNG, whose shipment is likely to double by the end of this decade. Data from the US Energy Information Administration (IEA) shows that India started growing rapidly from the beginning of LNG shipment 2020, when the Kovid epidemic came. The amount of monthly trading had increased to 28,259 million cubic feet before the decline started in May 2021. In October 2023, the volume was 13,698 million cubic feet. The IEA then stopped releasing the monthly figures.
Officials said that even if the governments agreed, the negotiations on energy supply between different companies usually last long. He said that India's largest LNG importer Petronet LNG Limited signed an initial agreement to purchase a $ 2.5 billion stake in the US LNG company Telurian project in Luijiana in 2019, in return for which it would get gas supply for 40 years. However, Petronet had announced a non -binding understanding of 5 million tonnes of LNG imports as the duration of negotiations to finalize the agreement, the duration of which is over.
Officials said that earlier experiences also reveal the need for better assessment of potential emergency.
First Published – March 9, 2025 | 10:23 PM IST
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