India's GAIL to buy 25 LNG cargoes in 2013

MUMBAI: Gas transmission firm GAIL (India) Ltd aims to buy 25 spot cargoes of liquefied natural gas (LNG) in 2013, up from 16-17 this year, its chairman, B. C. Tripathi, said on Wednesday.

GAIL will get the first cargo to start its Dabhol LNG terminal from Gazprom this month, Tripathi told reporters on the sidelines of an energy conference.

The start of the 5 million tonnes a year terminal has seen repeated delays.

With gas demand expected to grow at 14 percent in the next five years, Asia's third-largest economy is scouting for long-term LNG contracts, and aims to increase its LNG handling capacity to 50 million tonnes a year by 2017 from 13.5 million tonnes now.