India is going to get an additional four million metric tons of liquefied natural gas (LNG) per year from Qatar by 2013. The contract will be for a period which would range between 15 to 20 years.

India's oil secretary told about this import on Monday and said that Qatar was ready for the deal.

Talking to media persons during sidelines of a conference, S Sundareshan said that the proposal has been set up for year by year. In 2011, India will be getting additional 0.3MMT which would become 2.5 MMT by 2012 and 4 MMT by 2013.

Most of this import will be for commercial purposes and would be used by Petronet LNG Ltd. and Ratnagiri Gas & Power Pvt. Ratnagiri shall use this gas for its upcoming 5 MMT LNG terminal which will be operational in western Maharashtra.

India already imports 7.5 MMT of LNG a year from Qatar, which is India's biggest importer.

India needs this fuel to be able to meet the massive increase in demand for energy. It currently has LNG re-gasification capacity of 14.5 million tons in Dahej and Hazira.