India for comprehensive energy ties with Qatar
INDIA is looking to have a comprehensive energy partnership with Qatar, according to sources at the Indian embassy in Doha.
“Qatar is one of the biggest energy trade partners of India as it accounts for more than 50 percent of India’s total LNG import. Importance of Qatar as an energy partner will continue to grow as India is planning to raise the share of LNG in its energy mix to up to 30 percent. To achieve this level, we will need a lot of LNG. In such a situation, India will highly depend on Qatar,” a top official of the Indian embassy said.
The official said that now the time has come to take this relationship beyond ‘LNG seller and buyer’ as India is heading towards realising its vision of creating a gas-based economy that is less reliant on polluting fuels for meeting its energy needs.
“We want to have a comprehensive energy partnership with Qatar. We all know that India has embarked upon the ambitious project of expanding the National Gas Pipeline Grid and city gas distribution network to help push for greater use of environment-friendly fuel. The gas pipelines are planned to take the fuel to the east and northeast regions as well as to consumers in the south as part of the government’s push to raise the share of
natural gas in India’s energy basket,” the official said.
“India also needs to build several regasification termi
nals to cater to the growing demand for LNG. A few years ago India’s first Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG)-based
Floating Storage Re-gasification Unit (FSRU) was inaugurated. There are plans to build more of such FSRUs,” the official said.
“Qatar can play a vital role in completing all such projects successfully. This is why we are looking for a comprehensive energy partnership with Qatar. Qatar has always been a very reliable energy partner for us and we are quite hopeful that this partnership will grow from strength to strength,” the source said.
“Qatar’s support will also ensure that India becomes a regional hub for LNG distribution in neighbouring countries like Nepal, Bangladesh, Bhutan, Sri Lanka and others,” the official said.
Besides energy, the source said, there are several other areas where the two countries can collaborate to strengthen trade ties.
“India has several plans to diversify its exports to Qatar. Currently, India’s exports to Qatar are worth more than
2 billion. While India’s exports of food products to Qatar have witnessed a substantial increase, there are areas like pharmaceuticals and precious metals where India has a lot of potentials to increase its exports to Qatar,” the official said.
“We are also looking to have stronger business-tobusiness ties between Indian and Qatari firms. A joint business council between Indian and Qatar is also being discussed to strengthen investment partnership between the two countries,” the official said.