The country?s largest gas transportation company, GAIL (India), and EDF Trading on Thursday entered into an agreement to jointly acquire and develop upstream oil and gas assets in North America and to partner in trading and optimisation of US gas and liquified natural gas.
M Veerappa Moily, minister of petroleum and natural gas, said, ?The advent of shale gas in the US bodes very well for the global hydrocarbon landscape and this partnership is expected to look for business opportunities in this exciting space in order to enhance oil and gas sourcing prospects for India?.
As production output from Reliance Industries? most prolific KG-D6 gasfields continues to slide, several oil companies are in process of constructing LNG terminals in India and importing gas even at higher rates to meet the burgeoning demand.
The current actual domestic production of gas stands at 135 mmscmd and demand at around 243 mmscmd. According to industry estimates, even if domestic production from Reliance KG D6 goes up, the demand of natural gas will be around 530mmscmd by 2019-20 and output will be to the tune of 215 mmscmd.
?There are significant opportunities in North American gas markets and we are pleased to be partnering with GAIL, one of the world?s leading gas companies, in jointly developing this business,? John Rittenhouse, chief executive of EDF Trading said.
EDF Trading is one of the leading participants in the LNG market and offers a complete range of services including supply and delivery, terminal operations, re-gasification and nominations into networks. It has master agreements with the majority of the market?s key participants and long-term supply contracts in place in Asia and the Middle East.
