India’s liquefied natural gas (LNG) buyers have grown frustrated with the long-term offtake contract model and are pressing U.S. sellers for more flexible terms, a Gail India Ltd. executive said Wednesday.

Since prices cratered last year amid weak demand driven by the pandemic, customers have grown used to paying lower prices for delivered gas, said Gail India’s Sanjay Kumar, executive director of marketing. 

“When we talk to people, they expect the price which was available during Covid,” Kumar said at CERAWeek by IHS Markit.

That makes it difficult for aggregators like Gail to sell the LNG to domestic retail and industrial customers that have bought under long-term contracts signed years ago when prices were lower. 

India is expected to be a big buyer of U.S. LNG...