Essar, Ambani Group in talks to buy gas from Iran

Murli Deora said he met the Iranian ambassador to India on Tuesday in New Delhi and was asked to endorse a private company to buy LNG while government-level talks continued. “I have told them we would prefer you to honour the government-to-government commitment and then you are most welcome to sell it (LNG) to private parties,” Deora said.

He said two or three Indian private firms — including Essar and the Anil Ambani group — were talking to Iran. GAIL (India) Ltd, Indian Oil Corp Ltd and Bharat Petroleum Corp Ltd in June 2005 signed a deal with Iran to import 5 million tonnes of LNG annually over a 25-year period from 2009.

The deal, with an option to buy an extra 2.5 million tonnes a year, would help tie-up supplies for the energy-starved nation. But Iran in May last year had said that its Supreme Economic Council had not approved the deal, priced at $3.25 per million British thermal units, after a sharp rise in oil prices, and said it was demanding more.