India on Friday received its first-ever import cargo of liquefied natural gas at Dahej in Gujarat, that will help bridge the huge natural gas deficit in the country.

"The LNG tanker Disha, carrying 138,000 cubic meters of natural gas liquefied at minus 160 degrees temperature, reached Dahej waters at about 1500 hours," Petronet LNG Ltd managing director and CEO Suresh Mathur told PTI from Dahej.

ExxonMobil-promoted RasGas of Qatar will supply Petronet LNG Ltd five million tonnes of LNG a year under a 25-year contract.

"The maiden cargo on board the 138,000-cubic-metre newbuild carrier Disha has berthed at the greenfield terminal in Gujarat," he said.

The first cargo will be used for cooling the system and the subsequent two cargoes, expected in March, would go for maintaining the infil quantities in the two storage tanks and pipelines.

Commercial sales of re-gassified LNG will begin from April, he said.

The gas is being marketed by three of the Petronet partners -- GAIL (India) Ltd, Indian Oil Corporation and Bharat Petroleum Corporation Ltd.

GAIL, IOC, BPCL and Oil and Natural Gas Corporation hold 12.5 per cent stake each in PLL, while project consultant Gaz de France has taken 10 per cent participating interest.

Asian Development Bank has picked 5.2 per cent stake in PLL and the remaining 34.8 per cent stake is being offered to public through an initial public offering next month.