India's GAIL plans to invest $500 mln in Australia
Tue Oct 4, 2005 7:41
NEW DELHI, Oct 4 (Reuters) - State-run GAIL (India) Ltd. plans to spend $500 million on oil and gas projects in Australia over three to five years, the company said on Tuesday.
GAIL (GAIL.BO: Quote, Profile, Research), India's largest gas transmission company, is also in talks with Australia's Gorgon gas joint venture, Woodside Petroleum (WPL.AX: Quote, Profile, Research) and North West Shelf to secure supplies of liquefied natural gas (LNG), it said in a statement.
The company is keen to buy 5-7 million tonnes of LNG from Australia and also plans to bid for oil and gas exploration and production assets to be sold off in Australia next year, it said.
"The deadline for the bids is April 2006 and GAIL is looking forward to taking part in the ongoing bidding rounds for oil and gas blocks," the company said.
GAIL said it had discussed its investment plans with the premier of Western Australia, Geoff Gallop, who is in India.
India, which imports 70 percent of its crude oil, is already importing 5 million tonnes of LNG from Qatar and plans to import the super-cooled fuel from Iran from 2009.
India's government is encouraging state energy firms to invest in foreign oil and gas projects as domestic output has stagnated and energy demand is expected to grow at least 4 percent a year for the next two decades, according to government estimates.
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