GAIL plans to secure 7-8 million tonnes of long-term liquefied natural gas (LNG) from various sources as it bets big on domestic gas demand and hopes to play a leading role in India's transition to a gas-based economy, according to its chairman.

"GAIL is committed to meeting domestic demand while protecting it from price shocks." GAIL aims to increase its long-term volumes by at least 50%, or 7-8 million metric tonnes per year, in a staggered manner until 2030, according to GAIL chairman and managing director Sandeep Kumar Gupta in an interview.

The company is in talks with suppliers in several countries, including the United States, Qatar, the United Arab Emirates, and other countries east of the Mediterranean.

Gupta, the former finance chief of Indian Oil Corp, took over as the chairman and managing director of GAIL last October in the middle of a global energy crisis that had cut off afifth of its LNG supplies after a former German unit of Russia’s Gazprom stopped supplying.

“We managed well. The supply cut to our customers was much smaller as we brought in our US volumes to meet their demand,” said Gupta. After the global markets cooled off this year, the supplies resumed but GAIL has learnt its lessons.