The agreement was signed here by Chairman and Managing Director of Petronet LNG Suresh Mathur and Minister of Finance, Economy and Commerce of Qatar Youssef Hussain Kamal, also the chairman of Rasgas.

Indian Minister of Petroleum and Natural Gas V K Ramamurthy, Secretary Petroleum and Natural Gas T S Vijayaraghavan and the Qatar Minister of Energy, Industry, Electricity and Water were present at the signing ceremony. As per the SPA, the multinational consortium would supply for 25 years, five million tonnes of LNG to Petronet's Dahej terminal in Gujarat and 2.5 million tonnes of LNG at the Kochi terminal in Kerala.

The agreement provides exclusivity to Petronet LNG for the states of Gujarat and Kerala to ensure that the multinational does not sell gas to any other company.

Company sources said Petronet wouldstart shipment of LNG from July 2003 in phases.