Reliance Industries (RIL), Oil and Natural Gas Corporation (ONGC) and GAIL are reportedly in a bid to acquire an operating stake in liquefied natural gas (LNG) terminals on the east coast of the United States in order to ship gas to India at about $9.5 per million metric British thermal unit (mmBtu), which would be over 50% cheaper than current imports.
Massive shale gas discoveries have made US gas-surplus, with work on converting LNG complexes from re-gasification to liquefaction (import to export) terminals being in progress. Currently, seven LNG terminals are planned in the US to export gas to the nations that have signed free-trade agreements (FTAs) with the US. With India already being the world's eighth-largest importer of LNG, the current imports could rise five-fold in the next decade in light of dwindling domestic gas output and soaring demand.
Meanwhile, in order to fulfill nation’s growing energy needs, state-owned GAIL (India) is also reportedly looking to buy a sizeable stake in Russia’s planned 10-million tonnes (mt) LNG plant at Vladivostok on the Pacific coast and import natural gas from the $7-billion project. In return for a stake, GAIL is also comfortable picking up half of LNG the Vladivostok plant would produce.
