India-UAE energy ties boost: ADNOC and HPCL seal $2.5 billion gas deal; New Delhi to receive half a million tonnes of LNG annually

India and the United Arab Emirates sealed a major energy partnership with a long-term liquefied natural gas agreement worth more than $2.5 billion, the Emirati government announced on Monday.The deal was signed by ADNOC Gas, a subsidiary of the Abu Dhabi National Oil Company, and Indian oil giant Hindustan Petroleum Corporation Ltd. Under the deal, the ADNOC Gas is committed to supply 500,000 tonnes of LNG every year to India over the next decade. According to ADNOC, this agreement pushes the total value of contracts it supports and operates beyond $20 billion. The company further added that the deal will make India its largest natural gas customer.From 2029 onwards, Indian firms are expected to take just over 20% of ADNOC Gas’s total annual output of 15.6 million tonnes.The agreement was concluded on the sidelines of a visit by Emirati President Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan to New Delhi, where he held talks with PM Modi.In a joint statement, the two leaders welcomed the steady expansion of trade between their countries since a 2022 pact and pledged to double bilateral trade to $200 billion by 2032.Separately, PM Modi’s office stated that the two nations also agreed to work towards building a strategic defence partnership and to deepen cooperation in areas including “special operations and interoperability, cyber space, counter terrorism”.