India signed an initial pact for cooperation in the energy sector with Qatar today. The country is looking at Qatar for sourcing more crude oil and gas to meet its domestic energy demand.

The objective of the memorandum of understanding (MoU) is to establish a co-operative framework to facilitate and enhance bilateral co-operation in the sector, a statement issued by the Foreign Ministry here on Monday said.

The pact envisages co-operation in the areas of upstream (exploration) and downstream (refining) oil and gas activities.

The MoU was signed by Petroleum and Natural Gas Minister, Mr S. Jaipal Reddy, and Qatar's Energy and Industry Minister, Mohammed Bin Saleh al-Sada, after Qatar's Emir Sheikh Hamad bin Khalifa al-Thani met the Prime Minister, Dr Manmohan Singh, earlier in the day.

On April 2, at an event where Qatar's Energy Minister was present, the Petroleum Minister said India was looking at larger quantities of liquefied natural gas (LNG), crude oil and liquefied petroleum gas imports from Qatar.

In 2010-11, India imported 5.6 million tonne oil from Qatar. India also buys 7.5 million tonne a year LNG from that country based on a long-term contract.

Currently, Petronet LNG gets 7.5 million tonne of LNG from Qatar.

India is looking at additional volume of at least three million tonne at an affordable price.

Apart from co-operation in the energy sector, an agreement was also signed between the Reserve Bank of India and Qatar Central Bank for sharing supervisory information and enhancing co-operation.

Agreements on education exchange programmes, co-operation in the field of legal affairs, culture, and trade promotion in the field of organising exhibitions were also signed.

>richam@thehindu.co.in

Related Topics