NEW DELHI (Commodity Online): In a recent announcement, the Indian government today said that Qatar has given its consent to supply additional four million tonnes of liquefied natural gas (LNG) per year to India from 2013 onwards.

India currently imports 7.5 million tons of LNG every year from Qatar's RasGas under a long-term deal. Intially, this will be raised by one million tonne in 2011 and then, it will be ramped up to four million tonnes by 2014.

India's oil secretary, S. Sundareshan had mentioned on Monday that Qatar had agreed to supply India additional 4 million tonnes a year of liquefied natural gas (LNG) from 2013 but the price had not been decided yet.

He said India wanted to import 300,000 tonnes of LNG this year and gradually raise it to 4 million tonnes by 2013. Qatar's energy minister, Abdullah al-Attiyah was quoted saying, These will be 15-20 year contract.

India is on top of my agenda. We are always committed to meeting India's needs, he added.

The additional supply would be imported at Petronet LNG Ltd's under-construction Kochi LNG terminal and the Dabhol terminal of GAIL India, which is likely to be commissioned later this year, he said.

India