India's oil minister Murli Deora will visit Russia early next month and seek Moscow's help in securing stakes in energy assets there, Indian government officials said on Monday. India, Asia's third-largest oil consumer, and its larger rival China have both been chasing oil and gas assets abroad to meet their fast growing demand for energy.
Indian firms have already partnered Russian companies in taking stakes in fields and New Delhi wants more opportunities. Most recently, state-run explorer Oil and Natural Gas Corp agreed a take-over of mid-sized, London-listed Russian oil producer Imperial Energy for $2.6 billion.
"(Deora) will be leaving on November 4," S. Sundareshan, additional secretary in the oil ministry, told Reuters. The visit, expected to last two days, is aimed at garnering Moscow's support for Indian firms' acquisition of stakes in oil and gas assets in Russia, Sundareshan said. Both Sundareshan and ONGC's Chairman R.S. Sharma said the Imperial deal would not be high on the agenda.
"The Imperial transaction may not be on the agenda. The Moscow (visit) is for building up relationship," Sharma said. ONGC, which has 20 percent stake in the Sakhalin-1 oil and gas project in Russia's Far East, is looking at participating in the development of Sakhalin-3, an ambition raised by India during former Russian President Vladimir Putin's visit in January last year. Sakhalin-3 had been meant to be developed by state-run Rosneft and US oil major Exxon but, as the production sharing deal has never been finalised, the government plans to re-auction the deposits.
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