India, Iran fail to strike LNG deal
New Delhi: With the Iranians taking a tough stand on the price of LNG, and despite a new round of ministerial talks, India's attempt to strike a deal with Iran for the annual supply of liquified natural gas has failed yet again.

"There are other issues but price is the key issue," says Bijan Zanganeh, Iranian Oil Minister

India has been pushing for a fixed-term or a fixed price contract similar to deals it has with most countries, but Iran wants the LNG prices to be indexed against the Brent crude oil prices.

With India refusing to relent the talks have failed. While India may yet dump Iran for Yemen and Qatar, as possible sources of LNG, the Oil Minister in the meanwhile is looking at stepping up India's position among oil and gas buyers.

"The Chinese have merged them selves into two companies, which raise vast resources on the New York Stock Exchange. I would like to see such a restructuring of the Indian oil industry so that we can emerge as really major players in the capital markets of the world," says Aiyar.
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