India's Petronet LNG is looking at buying liquefied natural gas or LNG from a proposed 6.3 million tonnes a year project in Papua New Guinea.
The Reuters News Agency reports that the half state-controlled company will start formal negotiations soon.
The project is 34 percent owned by Exxon Mobil and 30 percent owned by Australia-listed Oil Search Ltd.
PNG aims to become an important liquefied natural gas exporter and to bring the proposed liquefaction plant run by Exxon onstream by late 2013.
India, which is Asia's third-largest energy consumer, faces a natural gas supply crunch with booming demand for the clean fuel far outstripping domestic supplies.
