Japan's Mitsui and sovereign wealth funds of Qatar, Abu Dhabi and Oman are in the race to buy Asian Development Bank's 5.2 per cent stake in India's Petronet LNG,  a report said.

Petronet is India's largest natural gas importer.

ADB had in 2011 decided to sell its 5.2 per cent stake in Petronet but could not go ahead as promoter PSUs like gas utility GAIL refused to waive off their first right of refusal, said the Economic Times report.

However, with India's Oil Ministry refusing permission to public sector oil companies to buy the stake on ground that such a move will alter the character of Petronet, the promoters have fallen in line and all of them including GAIL have given consent for the sale, the report said.