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Qatar diverts additional LNG to China, India -minister

Sunday, 31 October 2010

01 Nov 2010;economictimes.indiatimes.com:SINGAPORE: Qatar, the world's largest exporter of liquefied natural gas, will send an additional 7 million tonnes of LNG annually to China and another 5 million to India, the country's oil minister said on Monday. "We are starting to divert cargoes to Asia, to China 7 million tonnes and 5 million to India," Qatar Oil Minister Abdulla Al-Attiyah said on the sidelines of the Singapore Energy Summit on Monday. The original planned exports of liquefied natural gas to China had been just 5 million tonnes and 7.5 million tonnes to India, the minister said. "Today LNG and the whole of natural gas has some challenges," Attiyah said. "It's a tough market now". With shale gas becoming a challenge in the United States, Qatar was in talks with additional customers across North and South America, as well as nearer home in the Middle East, he added. "We are discussing with other potential consumers in the Gulf, Canada, Argentina and Chile," he added.