Three firms vie for Indian gas firm GAIL's tender to buy into US LNG project

By Nidhi Verma

GOA, India, Jan 29 (Reuters) - Three companies are competing for GAIL India's GAIL.NS tender to acquire up to a 26% stake in a liquefied natural gas project in the United States, its Chairman Sandeep Kumar Gupta said on Thursday.

Last year, GAIL issued a tender to buy up to a 26% stake in an LNG project in the United States, combined with a 15-year gas import deal.

India's largest gas distributor invited initial bids from companies as it seeks to buy equity in an existing LNG liquefaction project or a new project that would be commissioned by 2030 at the latest.

The United States is already the second-biggest supplier to India, one of the world's fastest-growing economies, while Qatar is its largest LNG supplier.

State-run GAIL wants 1 million metric tons of LNG per year from a U.S. plant on a free-on-board basis for 15 years, and has said the deal could be extended by five to 10 years.

India is the world's fourth-largest LNG importer and aims to raise the share of gas in its energy mix to 15% by 2030 from 6% currently.

More supplies are likely to come into the market as prices are "normalising," Gupta said on the sidelines of the India Energy Week conference.

"Supply is not a concern, as more volumes are coming in from Argentina, Canada, Alaska and Qatar," he said.