In Call With Puri, Russian Deputy PM Discusses Investment In Oil And Gas Sector By India

Moscow/New Delhi, March 11: Amid the punishing Western sanctions over the Ukraine war, Russian Deputy Prime Minister Alexander Novak on Friday spoke on phone with Indian Petroleum Minister Hardeep Singh Puri to discuss further Indian investment to the Russian oil and gas sector.

During the call, Novak also said that Russia is hopeful of continuing cooperating with India in the nuclear power sector, especially in Kudankulam. Both sides discussed the current and potential joint projects in the fuel and energy sector and noted that current projects continue to be steadily implemented, said a Russian government statement.

“What we have is a particularly privileged strategic partnership; the leaders of our countries maintain regular contact. Mutually beneficial cooperation is actively promoted, including the Arctic LNG 2 (in Russia’s Gydan Peninsula) and Sakhalin 1 (in Russia’s Far East) projects. Gazprom supplies LNG to India, and Rosneft continues its systematic work with its Indian partners.”

“We are interested in further attracting Indian investment to the Russian oil and gas sector and expanding Russian companies’ sales networks in India,” Novak said. He said major Russian companies are currently involved in projects in India, including the production, processing, and distribution of oil, natural gas, and coking coal. “Russia’s oil and petroleum product exports to India have approached $1 billion, and there are clear opportunities to increase this figure. We expect to continue cooperating in the development of peaceful nuclear power, in particular, in building the nuclear power units at Kudankulam,” the Deputy Prime Minister added.

Alexander Novak and Hardeep Puri also discussed cooperation between the two countries in education, in particular, expanding opportunities for Indian students to study at Russian universities.

Puri, during his visit to the Eastern Economic Forum in September last year, had discussed the possibility of India purchasing LNG from Russia along with acquisition of stake in Novatek’s Arctic LNG 2 project. The Arctic LNG 2 project is scheduled to enter production in 2023 and reach its full capacity of 19.8 million tones per year in 2025.

Indian energy companies ONGC Videsh Ltd and Petronet LNG Ltd were looking to buy a stake in Arctic LNG 2. Exxon Mobil and Shell have announced they are pulling out of the Sakhalin-1 and Sakhalin-2 projects, which planned to boost capacity in Russia’s Far East.