RasGas has delivered the inaugural LNG cargo to Petronet under the new sales and purchase agreement (SPA) signed on December 31, 2015 between India’s leading LNG company and RasGas 3.

The cargo was delivered to Dahej LNG Terminal in India on Wednesday, marking the commencement of the new 1mn-tonne-a-year SPA.

The SPA together with the long-term SPA between Petronet and RasGas signed in 1999 for 7.5mn tonnes a year raises the total annual long-term commitment between the two companies to 8.5mn tonnes.

RasGas has been supplying LNG “reliably” to India and Petronet, a key long-term partner and customer since 2004.

The LNG cargo was loaded aboard the 'Al Thumama' (Q-Flex) vessel at Ras Laffan on January 8.

RasGas has delivered, to this date, nearly 81mn tonnes per year of LNG to India, to meet the country’s growing demand for cleaner fuel and energy.

The gas major has established its global reputation as a safe and reliable supplier of LNG and is equipped with one of the most flexible LNG shipping fleets in the world, including some 27 long-term chartered vessels, comprising 14 conventional, 12 Q-Flex and one Q-Max vessels.

RasGas is a Qatari joint stock company established in 2001 by Qatar Petroleum and ExxonMobil RasGas Inc.

RasGas acts as the operating company for and on behalf of the owners of the LNG projects RL, RL (II) and RL3.

With operations facilities based in Ras Laffan, RasGas’ principal activities are to extract, process, liquefy, store and export LNG and its derivatives from the country’s North Field.

RasGas, on behalf of the project owners, exports to countries across Asia, Europe and the Americas with a total LNG production capacity of approximately 37mn tonnes per year.

For pipeline sales gas to the domestic market, RasGas also operates the Al Khaleej Gas Projects, AKG-1 and AKG-2 supplying approximately 2bn standard cubic feet (bscf) a day.

RasGas is currently adding production capacity by managing the construction of the Barzan Gas Project, which when fully operational, is expected to supply approximately 1.4bn standard cubic feet a day of additional sales gas a day to the Qatari market to meet growing demand for energy at power stations and downstream industries.

Currently, RasGas operates the Ras Laffan Helium Plant, which was established in 2003 and came on stream in 2005. The plant extracts, purifies and liquefies helium from the North Field.

The second helium plant entered production in June 2013 bringing the total liquid helium production capacity to 1.96 bscf a year.