India In Talks With Russia's Novatek On Long-Term Contract For LNG Supplies - Official

India is in talks with Russia's Novatek gas producer on signing a long-term contract for supplies of liquefied natural gas (LNG) from the Arctic LNG 2 project, deputy minister for oil and gas, Tarun Kapoor, said on Tuesday

MOSCOW (UrduPoint News / Sputnik - 02nd March, 2021) India is in talks with Russia's Novatek gas producer on signing a long-term contract for supplies of liquefied natural gas (LNG) from the Arctic LNG 2 project, deputy minister for oil and gas, Tarun Kapoor, said on Tuesday.

"We are working on some cooperation with Novatek also, there are some discussions going on. LNG is a huge area for us, because in India we're moving towards more and more usage of natural gas, and currently natural gas in the Primary energy is only 6.3 percent. So we announced the target to take it to 15 percent. So the requirement of natural gas in India is going grow," Kapoor told reporters at the opening of India's energy representative office in Moscow.

India discusses cooperation within Novatek's Arctic LNG 2 project and could potentially sign a long-term contract for LNG production, Kapoor confirmed.

"Absolutely. Yes," Kapoor said, asked if there were any discussions about a long-term contract.

Arctic LNG 2, located offshore near the remote Gyda Peninsula in northwestern Siberia, is Novatek's second large-scale LNG project. It will consist of three production lines with a total annual capacity of 19.8 million tonnes. In January 2020, Indian Minister for Petroleum and Natural Gas Dharmendra Pradhan said that his country was studying the possibility to join the project and obtain Russia's LNG.