UAE's Adnoc to supply LNG to IOC for 15 years

Abu Dhabi National Oil Company (Adnoc) will supply one million tonne per annum of liquefied natural gas to Indian Oil Corporation (IOC) - the third LNG supply deal signed with the UAE firm, the company said Monday.

Adnoc will supply 1 million tonne of LNG from its Ruwais NG project for 15 years, the Abu Dhabi media office said.

This is the third LNG supply deal between Adnoc and Indian state-owned firms in just over a year. In July last year, Adnoc Gas signed an agreement with IOC for export of up to 1.2 million tonne per annum of LNG "valued in the range of $7 billion to $9 billion over its 14-year term".

Separately, state-owned gas utility GAIL (India) Ltd signed a deal with Adnoc Gas to buy 0.5 million tonne of LNG annually for 10 years starting 2026.

The latest LNG supply deal was signed during the visit of Sheikh Khaled bin Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan, Crown Prince of Abu Dhabi to India.

Long-term LNG contracts play an important role in balancing out the inherent volatility of the spot LNG market and thus make it an affordable and reliable LNG supply.

Adnoc Gas is the national oil and gas company of the Abu Dhabi government and is the oldest supplier of natural gas from the Middle East.

Adnoc also signed an agreement with Indian Strategic Petroleum Reserves (ISPRL) for exploring the UAE firm's participation in additional opportunities for crude storage in India and the renewal of their storage and management agreement on mutually acceptable terms and conditions.

This MoU builds on Adnoc's existing involvement in crude storage at the Mangalore Cavern of ISPRL since 2018.

Also signed was a production concession agreement for Abu Dhabi Onshore Block 1 between Urja Bharat - a joint venture of IOC and Bharat Petro resources Ltd, and Adnoc.

The consortium holds a 100 per cent stake to explore and appraise oil and gas reserves in the 6,162-square-kilometer block around Ruwais, Adnoc's integrated refining and petrochemicals hub in the Al Dhafra region of Abu Dhabi.

The pact signed on Monday allows Urja Bharat to bring crude oil to India.

The Indian Embassy in the UAE in a post on X said Oil Minister Hardeep Singh Puri met Adnoc Group CEO Sultan Jaber on the sidelines of the visit of the Abu Dhabi Crown Prince.

The two discussed the ever growing India-UAE energy partnership and signed key agreements, it said.

Puri in social media posts also said he met visiting UAE Minister of Industry and Advanced Technology and Adnoc Group CEO Sultan Ahmed Al Jaber.

"Held a very extensive & fruitful meeting with my dear friend, Dr Jaber. The partnership between India & UAE has grown in strength & gained momentum particularly in the last decade.

"UAE is now India's second largest source of crude oil imports & the third largest destination of India's exports of petroleum products. We are also trusted partners & collaborators in other countries," he said.

"In our meeting today, we discussed ways to further cement our already comprehensive partnership which spans across the entire hydrocarbon value chain."