India looks to Russia for supply of crude oil

New Delhi: India is looking to Russia for supply of crude oil. And this was the showpiece of the discussion between Petroleum Minister Dharmendra Pradhan and Rosneft's CEO Igor Sechin when they met on Tuesday. The two discussed plans to sign a term-contract for the supply of Russian crude to India, Petroleum ministry said in a statement. Referring to the recent drone attack on Saudi Aramco, Pradhan stressed on the need to increase sourcing of crude oil from Russia. The delegation also discussed ongoing energy projects between the two countries.

India-Russia meet agenda

"The ongoing joint projects in Russia between Indian oil & gas PSUs and Rosneft were also reviewed, specifically Sakhalin-1, Taas-Yuryakh and Vankor fields. In the presence of Minister Pradhan, the Indian Consortium of four oil & gas PSUs (BPRL, IOCL,OVL and OIL) and Rosneft today exchanged a non-binding cooperation agreement, reiterating their interest in participation of the Indian companies in the Eastern Cluster project of Russia," the statement said. The Russian delegation also discussed plans of further expanding Nayara Energy's operations in the country.

India-Russia plan to increase throughput at Vadinar

"The consortium is reviewing an option of a two-fold increase of the refining throughput at the Vadinar Refinery. The first stage consortium commits toinvestment of USD 850 million towards the building of a petrochemical unit inVadinar within two years. The consortium is also planning to expand NayaraEnergy's retail presence, which currently has over 5300 retail outlets acrossthe country," the ministry said.

The backdrop

Today's meeting comes after the visit of Prime Minister Narendra Modi to Vladivostok as Chief Guest at the Eastern Economic Forum and the 20th Annual Bilateral Summit between Modi and Russian President Vladimir Putin. India and Russia issued a joint statement for cooperation in the hydrocarbon sector between 2019 and 2024 during Modi's visit to Russia earlier this month.

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