Previously, Petronet had maintained it might seek up to one million tonnes per annum of additional LNG once the time for renewing its deal with Qatar came.

India’s top gas importer Petronet LNG confirmed that the company is not looking to secure additional volumes when it renews its long-term liquefied natural gas (LNG) deal with Qatar, its head of finance revealed.

This announcement comes as Petronet holds a 7.5-million metric tonne per year (tpy) long-term LNG import agreement with the Gulf nation. Its promoters, including Indian Oil Corp, Bharat Petroleum Corp, and GAIL (India) Ltd, have a separate one million tpy deal in place, according to finance head V. K Mishra.

Previously, Petronet had maintained it might seek up to one million tonnes per annum of additional LNG once the time for renewing its deal with Qatar came round.

However, Mishra clarified: “We are going for renewal of the contract. Renewal means it will be of same quantity.”

While the specifics of the renewal remain undisclosed, it underlines Petronet’s commitment to its existing agreement.

Indian companies have until the end of this year to engage in negotiations with Qatar to extend their LNG import deals beyond the year 2028, reports said.

Qatar is rapidly expanding its liquefaction capacity, with plans to reach 126 million tpy by 2027 from its current 77 million tpy.

Recently, it inked long-term agreements with European majors Shell, TotalEnergies, and ENI, while also securing deals with Asian giants including China’s Sinopec, China National Petroleum Corp, and Bangladesh.

Meanwhile, the CEO of Petronet LNG expressed his hope that a current diplomatic row between India and Qatar would not adversely affect the ongoing negotiations to extend LNG import agreements beyond 2028.

Last week, reports said Qatar had sentenced to death eight Indian former naval officers for allegedly spying for Israel.

They were among a number of former Indian Navy personnel employed by Dahra Global Technologies to work on a highly classified project to construct miniature submarines based on Italian technology with concealment features.

Despite this, the CEO of Petronet LNG, A. K. Singh, expressed optimism about the ongoing negotiations, reassuring: “We are in business. It [the diplomatic row] will be handled at the highest level of the country… we hope this does not have any impact on business relations.”