An Indian firm signed an initial deal with the National Iranian Oil Company (NIOC) to buy Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG), the Iranian press reported on Tuesday.
Gail India, a leading Indian LNG importer, clinched the agreement with the state-run NIOC. Iran has refused to lower the price of Liquefied Natural Gas it intends to sell to India, claiming that it was already the most competitive at 2.22 dollars per one million British thermal units (MBTU).
Although the price offered by Iran is lower than Qatar's 2.53 dollars per MBTU sale price to petronet LNG, India's primary LNG import firm, the Indian government is asking for a price lower than 2 dollars per MBTU to keep the delivered cost of regasified-LNG to power and fertilizer plants at around 3.50 dollars per MBTU.
The delivered price of Qatar gas is 4.80 dollars per MBUT while at 2.22 dollars per MBUT (the Iranian offer), the delivered price would be just over 4 dollars. (menareport.com)
© 2004 Mena Report (www.menareport.com)
