Pradhan told Reuters India was open to granting stakes to Qatar in local oil and gas companies and liquefied natural gas (LNG) terminals, should the Gulf emirate make such a proposal.
Qatar declared a moratorium in 2005 on the development of the North Field, which it shares with Iran, to give Doha time to study the impact on the reservoir from a rapid rise in output.
Speaking at the Petrotech conference here, RasGas CEO Hamad Mubarak Al Muhannadi said India lacks infrastructure to support a gas-based economy and needs more LNG import terminal to unlock demand.
Qatar's RasGas, the largest LNG exporter to India, today sought inclusion of natural gas in the Goods and Services Tax (GST) regime to make taxes on the green fuel uniform and spare consumers from cascading multiple levies.
Hamad Mubarak Al Muhannadi also said that India needs more LNG terminals to unlock demand. Asia's third-largest economy will become the world's second-largest spot and long-term LNG buyer this year, Muhannadi said.
India buys 7.5 million tons a year of liquefied natural gas (LNG) per annum from Qatar. The price formula for this was fixed 13 years back and the rate went out of sync when global energy prices slumped last year.
The LNG importer's Dahej terminal had maximum capacity utilisation for the fourth quarter, and will continue to clock 120 percent going forward, says RK Garg Director-Finance, Petronet LNG. He adds that Dahej and Hazira terminals will be the only terminals operating for 6 months.
In an interview to CNBC-TV18, RK Garg, CFO, Petronet LNG spoke about the latest happenings in his company and sector.
Earlier in 2009, Petronet and ExxonMobil had signed a 20-year long LNG deal, where the company had agreed to pay Exxon 14.5 percent of crude price under different circumstances.
The natural gas price will be linked to the market till 2028 and under this new agreement the oil price will be based on a three month average unlike the earlier five year average and this revised price is effective from January 1, 2016.
Had there been a 'take or pay' liability clause, Petronet would have had to pay Rs 12,000 crore to RasGas though it had not bought gas in 2015
After months of intense negotiations, RasGas of Qatar has agreed to not to press for the USD 1 billion in penalty that Petronet LNG Ltd, India's biggest import of liquefied natural gas (LNG), has to pay for buying only 68 percent of the contracted 7.5 million tons this year.
For the week, the Sensex and Nifty gained 1 percent each, especially driven by global rally post FOMC minutes that indicates likely hike in Fed rates in December.
According to reports, long term contract is now linked at 3 months of Brent from earlier 12 months, enabling cost of gas to drop below USD 7/mmbtu from USD 12.5/mmbtu.
Another concern that may hurt GAIL's long-term earnings outlook is domestic customers not signing volumes from GAIL's US gas supplies, as it would cost 25-30 percent more than spot LNG.
India's LNG import costs under the deal are currently around USD 13 per million British thermal units (mmBtu), versus spot prices of USD 6-USD 7 per mmBtu, according to R.K. Garg, head of finance at Petronet LNG.
Kotak has revised its 12-month forward target price on the stock to Rs 920 (previously Rs 870). It believes value creation in RIL's non-core businesses to drive stock performance in the medium term.
A Balyan, chief executive officer and managing director, Petronet LNG doesn't expect to see a significant impact on company's margins, even if the petroleum regulator asks gas companies to share their profit with the government.
Reliance Industries has sought approval to sell gas it plans to produce from below coal seams (coal-bed methane) at about USD 13 per million British thermal unit, more than double the rate at which domestically produced gas is sold at present.