India Energy Week 2025: IOC, BPCL ink pacts with UAE to import LNG

Indian Oil Corporation (IOC) and Bharat Petroleum Corporation Limited (BPCL) on Thursday signed multibillion dollar pacts with a United Arab Emirates’ (UAE’s) state-owned oil company to import Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG) over the next few years as the country gears up to meet the rising natural gas demand.

 

The International Energy Agency (IEA) on Wednesday said that the gap between India’s contracted LNG supply and its projected requirement is set to “significantly widen” by 2028, and suggested that the country should carefully plan to ensure supply security and to help gas to compete in a price-sensitive market.

 

The biggest deal was signed by public sector oil marketing company IOC. It inked an agreement to import LNG from UAE’s Abu Dhabi National Oil Co. (ADNOC) on a 14-year contract at the ongoing India Energy Week (IEW) in Delhi.

 

Valued at $7-9 billion, this deal will ensure IOC receives 1.2 million tonnes per year of LNG from the UAE firm beginning 2026. This agreement converts the previous Heads of Agreement between the parties into a sales and purchase agreement (SPA).

 

The other public sector firm BPCL also signed a term LNG offtake agreement with ADNOC. It covers procurement of 2.4 million tonnes of LNG over a period of 5 years, starting April 2025. The agreement is extendable by another 5-year with mutual consent.

 

Meanwhile, French energy giant TotalEnergies signed a deal to sell 400,000 tonnes a year of LNG to Gujarat State Petroleum Corporation Ltd (GPSC) for 10 years starting 2026.

 

TotalEnergies and the GSPC announced the signing of a long-term sale and purchase agreement (SPA) for 10 years starting in 2026.

 

Amounting to six cargoes per year, the LNG will be sourced from TotalEnergies’ global portfolio and delivered to terminals on India’s west coast. They will primarily serve GSPC’s industrial customers. It will also supply Indian households for domestic use, businesses, and service stations for vehicles running on compressed natural gas (CNG), such as auto-rickshaws.

 

The government, meanwhile, is also moving towards adapting sweet sorghum for bioethanol production.

 

The National Sugar Institute (NSI), Kanpur has successfully demonstrated the potential at its in-house facility. NSI is now seeking an industrial partner to scale up this technology. BPCL has partnered with NSI for establishing production systems, capacity building for farmers, and on-boarding value chain partners. It also focuses on piloting sweet sorghum for juice-based bioethanol production and cost estimation.