GAIL says supply from Gazprom to start soon

GAIL (India)

The country's largest gas distributor GAIL (India) Ltd announced on January 30 that it is in talks with Gazprom Marketing and Trading Singapore (GMTS) with regard to the supply of natural gas.

The PSU under the Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Gas has said in an investors call on Monday that the supply of natural gas from GMTS is expected to start soon.

Gas Authority of India Ltd (GAIL) has posted a 92 percent year-on-year decline in standalone profit after tax (PAT) at Rs 245 crore for the quarter ended December 31, 2022, compared to a net profit of Rs 3,287 crore in the year-ago period.

The decline in profit comes as the country’s largest gas distributor was hit by lower gas sales owing to supply disruptions from Gazprom.

Earlier this month, GAIL had issued a buy tender seeking two liquefied natural gas (LNG) cargoes for delivery into India. The gas distributor reportedly sought the cargoes for delivery during the month of February on a delivered ex-ship (DES) basis into the country's Dabhol terminal.

Supply disruptions from Gazprom

Russia’s Gazprom had halted supplies of natural gas to GAIL since May 2022; as a result, the gas distributor had to cut supplies to clients.

Also read: Gazprom Singapore pays 'meagre' penalty for defaulted LNG deliveries to India

GAIL had signed a contract with Gazprom in 2012 to supply 2.5 million tonnes of LNG annually for 20 years. However, Gazprom has been diverting LNG supplies to gain from the soaring global gas prices and has defaulted on the long-term commitment to India.

This has forced GAIL to buy expensive gas from the spot market impacting supplies to end-user industries like fertilizer manufacturing.​