India's GAIL to commission Dabhol LNG terminal by Nov

State-run gas utility GAIL India Ltd will commission its LNG terminal in Dabhol, on the Indian west coast, in October or November, its chairman B.C. Tripathi said on Monday, Reuters reports.

The terminal will operate initially at about 2.5 million tonnes a year, half of its installed capacity, Tripathi said.

With gas demand expected to grow at 14 percent in the next five years, Asia's third-largest economy is scouting for long-term LNG contracts, and aims to increase its LNG handling capacity to 50 million tonnes a year by 2017 from 13.5 million tonnes now.

Tripathi said GAIL will soon conclude a two-to-three-year deal to buy liquefied natural gas (LNG).

"The volume would be almost a million tonne (per year)."

He also said the state-run utility hopes to finalise $450 million in foreign loans in a month's time.