By IANS
New Delhi : Bilateral investment between India and Russia in the hydrocarbon sector might see a big jump, with petroleum ministers of both countries at a meeting in Moscow Monday agreeing to expand cooperation.
Indian Petroleum Minister Murli Deora emphasised the fact that the growing refining sector in India offers immense opportunities for Russian companies to make use of.
Deora agreed with his Russian counterpart, Victor A. Zubkov, that national oil companies from both countries should “concretise mutually beneficial projects in areas like exploration, production, grassroots refineries, modernisation of refineries, gas-based petrochemical plants, gas-processing plants, participation in liquefied natural gas, and inform the progress to the leadership of the two countries”, according to an official statement.
Deora underlined that Indian exports of refined petroleum products to some of the world’s most sophisticated markets have touched $40 billion.
The minister, accompanied by a high-level delegation, is currently on a visit to Russia.
This meeting was a follow-up of the successful summit between Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and Russian President Vladimir V. Putin earlier this month in Moscow.
“The emphasis was on the mutually beneficial projects in upstream, midstream and downstream sectors in India, Russia and third countries between companies of the two countries in hydrocarbon sector,” noted the statement.
The discussions between the two countries will continue at the second Indo-Russian Forum on Trade and Investment scheduled in Feb 2008 at New Delhi.
Putin himself will lead a delegation of leading Russian businessmen to the forum.
Deora stopped over at Turkmenistan’s capital Ashgabat for a meeting with his Turkmen counterpart on his way to Russia Sunday.
Indian oil companies have been invited by Turkmenistan to acquire stakes in the country’s Caspian shelf oil and gas blocks through production-sharing contracts.
The ministers also agreed on a comprehensive roadmap to push bilateral ties in the oil sector.