GAIL (India) Ltd. and Japan’s Sumitomo Corp. have struck a pact to pursue natural gas and liquefied natural gas (LNG) opportunities around the globe, particularly targeting petrochemicals, gas procurement, pipelines and LNG, the companies said. GAIL and Sumitomo, which have signed a memorandum of understanding to cooperate on projects, hold half of the capacity in the Cove Point LNG liquefaction terminal project in the United States (see Daily GPI, June 17). Both said they view the U.S. market as a “growth area for their line of businesses and would cooperate on businesses ranging from upstream to downstream.” GAIL is India’s leading natural gas company with a presence along the entire hydrocarbon value chain. Sumitomo is a leading integrated trading and investing enterprise headquartered in Tokyo. Sumitomo also invests in a range of businesses such as metal, mineral resources, energy, chemical, etc. Its subsidiary Pacific Summit Energy LLC participates in in natural gas trading and marketing (physical and financial) in the United States.