Report: India’s Gail proposes Cove Point LNG cargo swaps

State-run gas company GAIL (India) Ltd is reportedly proposing to swap seven liquefied natural gas (LNG) cargoes from Dominion’s Cove Point liquefaction facility in the US.

Gail has already signed time-swap deals with international players to sell some of its previously contracted U.S. LNG supplies as it is trying to reduce costs for price-sensitive Indian customers.

The Indian importer has 20-year deals to buy 5.8 million tonnes per annum of U.S. LNG in total, split between Cove Point and Cheniere Energy’s Sabine Pass facility.

Under the newest swap, Gail is selling its share of output from Cove Point on a free-on-board basis in return for taking delivery of equal amounts of LNG to India’s Dahej or Hazira import terminals, Reuters reported on Friday citing a tender document and unnamed trading sources.

According to the report, Gail is offering a Cove Point cargo loading in May 5-15 and asks for corresponding delivery to India on May 1-10.

The company also offers Cove Point cargo on June 15-25, July 5-15 and August 1-10 but dates for corresponding deliveries to India are yet to be finalised, the report said.

In addition, Gail is offering a cargo on September 1-10 with corresponding Indian import scheduled for September 1-15 and on October 1-10 with corresponding Indian import on October 10-31, the news agency said.

To remind, the Cove Point facility, the second such plant to ship US shale gas overseas, started exporting LNG on March 1.

When commissioning is complete, Dominion’s LNG export facility will produce the chilled fuel for ST Cove Point, the joint venture of Japan’s Sumitomo Corporation and Tokyo Gas, and for India’s GAIL under 20-year contracts.

LNG World News Staff