-
India pays for Russian LNG imports in US dollar
GAIL continues to pay for the LNG it imports from Russia’s Gazprom in US dollars and will seek exchange rate neutrality in case payments are sought in any other currency such as Euro, two sources said. GAIL has a deal to receive 2.5 million tonnes of liquefied natural gas (LNG) annually on a delivered basis from Russia’s Gazprom. This translates into 3 to 4 cargoes or ship loads of super-cooled natural gas every month.
The contract with Gazprom provides for making payments in US dollars,” a source with direct knowledge of the matter said. “Payments become due 5-7 days after the delivery of the LNG cargo. The last payment was made on March 23, which was in US dollars.”
An LNG shipload was received on March 25 and its payment will be due in early April. There is no indication that the payment for this cargo will be in a currency other than US dollar, sources said. “So far, the US dollar payment continues without any problem,” another source said. “Gazprom has so far not communicated anything to GAIL about change in payment mode.”
The last payment was settled through State Bank of India (SBI) – the bank that has been used to pay for imports from Gazprom since the start of supplies in June 2018. GAIL, they said, has so far not received any written communication from Gazprom for change in the currency for settling the payments.
Share This
