India’s LNG consumption may rise from 6 to 7Mt a year currently to 30Mt by 2013, and Australia is well placed to serve existing and planned LNG terminals on India’s east coast, according to Sharma.

“Australia can be one of the largest energy suppliers to India,” he said.

This year, India entered the LNG spot market for the first time, buying three spot cargoes from Algeria, shipped via the Suez Canal.

Petronet hopes to buy gas from the Chevron-operated Gorgon project but future production trains at Darwin LNG or the North West Shelf could also be possible suppliers, as could Woodside Petroleum’s planned Pluto and Browse developments.

“We would like to sign the agreement with Gorgon as quickly as possible,” Sharma said.

“We would love to get LNG sourced from any of these other new projects when any of them start.”