India, Russia may firm up energy sector deals by February 2008: Deora

27 November 2007

Moscow: Indian and Russian oil and gas majors may firm up energy deals in upstream and downstream sectors by February, petroleum minister, Murli Deora has said.
Speaking to reporters in Moscow, Deora said that Russian prime minister Viktor Zubkov had assured India that Moscow would adopt a favourable approach to aid India''s backing in the country''s quest for energy security. According to Deora, Zubkov also said that transformation of bilateral cooperation in hydrocarbons was one of the main planks of Indo-Russian strategic partnership.

Deora was interacting with reporters on Monday after holding talks with the Russian premier and other senior Moscow officials. He arrived in Moscow on a two-day visit on Sunday, as a follow-up to the recent visit of prime minister Manmohan Singh to Russia where he met the Russian prime minister Zubkov as part of a "downgraded" summit.

Deora mentioned that Indian Oil Corp, ONGC and OVL are in dialogue with Russia''s Rosneft and Gazprom to "concretise" mutually beneficial projects in upstream, mid-stream and downstream sectors.

Zubkov is due to visit India to inaugurate the ''Year of Russia'' in this country and is expected to arrive with a large business delegation to attend the second Indo-Russian Trade and Investment Forum in New Delhi.

Deora also mentioned that India was interested in the Kiriinsky Block of Sakhalin-3 offshore project with Rosneft, which has yet to pick a partner.

Deora and Zubkov also agreed that the energy majors of the two nations should finalise projects in the field of exploration and production, grass root refineries, modernization and upgrading of refineries, gas-based petrochemical plants, gas processing plants including its liquefaction in India, Russia and third countries.