*** India strikes US gas deal | THE DAILY TRIBUNE | KINGDOM OF BAHRAIN

India strikes US gas deal

AFP | New Delhi

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India said yesterday it had signed a “significant” deal that will see the United States supply nearly 10% of the Asian giant’s liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) imports, as it seeks to diversify its energy sources.

Minister for Petroleum and Natural Gas Hardeep Singh Puri said India had signed the one-year deal for 2.2 million tonnes per annum of LPG, sourced from the US Gulf Coast, providing “close to 10%” of India’s annual imports of the fuel.

Puri said it was “the first structured contract of US LPG for the Indian market”.

“In our endeavour to provide secure, affordable supplies of LPG to the people of India, we have been diversifying our LPG sourcing,” Puri said in a statement, adding that “one of the largest and the world’s fastest growing LPG market opens up to the United States”.

In October, Indian statebacked refiner HPCL-Mittal Energy said it halted purchases of Russian crude after Washington imposed sanctions on Moscow’s two largest oil companies.