India is looking at buying more oil and gas from Qatar, Oil Minister S. Jaipal Reddy said on Monday, after a meeting with his Qatari counterpart, Reuters reported.
Indian refiners have been cutting oil imports from sanctions-hit Iran and are diversifying purchases away from the country's second-biggest supplier of crude after Saudi Arabia.
Reddy said in 2010-2011, India imported 5.6 million tonnes of oil from Qatar. India also annually buys 7.5 million tonnes of liquefied natural gas (LNG) from Qatar under long term deals.
"In the years ahead with our energy requirement growing we look for larger quantities of LNG, oil and LPG from Qatar," Reddy said.
Qatar is the world's largest LNG producer with a capacity of 77 million tonnes a year.
Edited by: S. Isayev