Qatar has committed to sell six 'loose' LNG cargoes in the first half of the current year and it may export an additional 18 cargoes on Petroleum Minister Murli Deora's request.

"Deora requested for extra cargoes and I simply can't say no to him," Qatari Oil Minister Abdullah bin Hamad al-Attiyah told PTI in an interview.

Deora did some breakfast diplomacy with Attiyah to get commitment for additional cargoes this year and further made a plea for 2.5 million tonnes of LNG on a long-term contract for the 2,150 MW Dabhol power plant in Maharashtra.

"Qatar has been our most trusted and reliable friend and we hold this friendship in high esteem. It has come to our rescue several times in past and I am confident Attiyah will not disappoint us when we desperately need fuel for Dabhol," Deora said after the meeting.

Deora doled out a 10 per cent stake to Qatar Petroleum in Petronet, a proposal to which Attiyah said, "Our companies will certainly examine (the offer)". "It will be done through Qatar Investment Board," he said.

Qatar had in 2004 offered Indian firms a five per cent stake in Qatar Petroleum but Oil and Natural Gas Corp (ONGC [Get Quote]) which was assigned to pick up the equity hesitated in making the $135 million payment. The stake is now worth $1 billion.

"We will divert some cargoes to India," Attiyah said referring his nation's commitment on selling more cargoes over an above the six shiploads already committed. The additional LNG would help ease the fuel deficit faced by power and fertilizer units in the country.

RasGas of Qatar currently sells five million tonnes a year of LNG to Petronet LNG under a 25-year contract. An additional 2.5 million tonnes would be supplied under the same contract from September this year, he said.

Besides, Qatar had last year came to the rescue of beleaguered Dabhol power plant by agreeing to supply just over 1.25 million tons to Petronet, which used GAIL pipeline network to transport the gas from its Dahej import terminal in Gujarat to the power plant on the Maharashtra coast.

"We are very happy to work with Petronet LNG Ltd. PLL is our choice in India," Attiyah said. "When we created this idea in 1995 to supply LNG to India, many termed it as a wrong choice. We said we will take the challenge and India has proved to be our best choice."

"Today, Petronet is our single largest customer and its Dahej import and regassification terminal is one of the best in the world," he said. "We are very proud of Petronet. We have had no single default in past five years of supplies."

Attiyah said last year RasGas supplied 1.2-million tonne additional LNG and this year it has already committed six cargoes and more are on the offer. "We are working very hard to see whatever extra cargoes (beyond the already committed sales to customers world over) are sent to Petronet."

Prime Minister Manmohan Singh during his maiden visit to Qatar in November last year had pitched for importing 2.5 million tonnes a year of additional LNG on long term basis to meet the growing energy needs.

Qatar which has the world's third largest reserve of gas, in first five years to December 2008 sold LNG to Petronet at $2.53 per million British thermal unit. From January, this price has been revised to $3.12 per mmBtu, but it is still one-third of the current spot LNG price.

The joint venture of Shell and Total of France this month imported a spot LNG cargo from Australia at $9.06 per mmBtu.

Petronet is seeking more LNG from Qatar to meet the fuel needs of Dabhol and subsequently for Pragati Power Plant. Dabhol alone would need 24 cargoes in the full calendar year, six of which have already been committed by Qatar.

Pragati Power, which is to begin operation by the year end, would need similar volumes. Petronet LNG Ltd, a joint venture of Indian Oil [Get Quote], GAIL India [Get Quote], Bharat Petroleum and Oil and Natural Gas Corp, last week completed doubling of its Dahej LNG import terminal capacity to 10 million tonnes.