RIYADH: India’s liquefied natural gas supply is poised for expansion through a 20-year agreement between QatarEnergy and Petronet, entailing the annual purchase of 7.5 million tonnes. The contracted LNG volumes will be delivered via QatarEnergy’s vast fleet starting from May 2028, according to a press release. Saad Sherida Al-Kaabi, Qatar’s minister of state for energy affairs, said: “This agreement is another key milestone in the long-standing energy partnership between Qatar and India and comes on the heels of the 20th anniversary of the first LNG shipment to India.” Al-Kaabi, who is also the president and CEO of QatarEnergy, added: “We believe that this new agreement, with our valued customers Petronet LNG and its esteemed shareholder companies, will further strengthen the relationship with India and support its vision to increase the contribution of natural gas in its energy mix.” Petronet first entered into an agreement for the supply of LNG from Qatar in 1999 for the delivery of 7.5 million tonnes per annum. It was followed in 2015 by another agreement for the supply of an additional 1 mtpa of LNG, raising the total annual long-term volumes contracted between the two sides to 8.5 mtpa. In January 2024, QatarEnergy also signed another deal with US-based Execelerate Energy to supply LNG in Bangladesh. Under the 15-year agreement, Excelerate will buy up to 1 mtpa of LNG from QatarEnergy, which will be delivered to floating storage and regasification units in Bangladesh, starting in January 2026. In 2023, QatarEnergy signed significant agreements to supply LNG to various countries worldwide. In October, the energy giant signed an agreement with Eni to supply up to 1 mtpa of LNG to Italy. In the same month, QatarEnergy and TotalEnergies signed two agreements to supply up to 3.5 mpta of LNG to France. In May, the Qatari company signed another agreement with China Petrochemical Corp., also known as Sinopec, to deliver 3 mpta of LNG to the Asian giant.