By RIA Novosti,
New Delhi : India’s oil minister arrived in Moscow on a two-day visit on Tuesday for talks on participating in future oil and gas projects in Russia, a source in India’s oil ministry said.
Murli Deora, who is accompanied by a high-ranking delegation made up of oil and gas representatives, is expected to meet with Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin ahead of President Dmitry Medvedev’s forthcoming visit to India set for early December.
India, the third-largest consumer of oil in Asia, is keen to take part in joint projects in Russia following on from the recent $2.6 billion takeover of Imperial Energy, a Russian oil company with production licenses for fields in the Tomsk Region, by India’s state-run oil and gas company ONGC Videsh Ltd. (OVL).
The deal, which has been approved by Imperial Energy’s board of directors, now needs the final approval of shareholders to go through.
ONGC’s sole project in Russia, prior to the acquisition of London-listed Imperial Energy, had been a 20% stake in the Sakhalin-I project off Russia’s Pacific Coast, but India is keen to take part in the Sakhalin-3 and 4 projects with gas monopoly Gazprom or state oil producer, Rosneft.