India may purchase oil fields in Russia

NEW DELHI (RIA Novosti) - India’s state-owned Oil and Natural Gas Corporation is considering the purchase of Russian oil fields and companies, Indian oil minister Murli Deora said.

The ONGC is currently taking part in Sakhalin-I, an oil and gas project off the coast of Russia’s Pacific island of the same name. It is also the owner, via subsidiary ONGC Videsh Ltd., of British oil company Imperial Energy, with production licenses for fields in west Siberia’s Tomsk Region.

In September, India’s oil minister visited Tomsk, where he held talks with Governor Viktor Kress on participating in future oil and gas projects in Russia.

“The governor invited us to take part in the development of new (oil) fields, and we will consider his offer,” he said.

Deora said India, which is the third-largest consumer of oil in Asia, was interested in taking part in the Sakhalin-3 project.

A high-ranking source from the Indian oil industry told RIA Novosti the ONGC could buy either existing oil companies or new oil fields in the Tomsk region, as well as in Russia’s north.

He said India would discuss energy cooperation at a meeting of the heads of major Russian and Indian enterprises, scheduled to take place ahead of a Russia-India summit in December.

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