Business
Indian state-owned oil firms signed big deals with Russia's Rosneft for Siberian oil.
Reuters reports:
Indian state companies signed energy deals worth billions of dollars with Russia's Rosneft on Wednesday to buy into its most promising assets in Siberia, stepping up a drive to cut New Delhi's dependence on imports. Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who wants to cut India's oil imports by 10 percent in six years, is steering efforts to buy foreign energy assets, taking advantage of low global oil prices and a slowdown in China's overseas acquisitions. Under the deals signed with Rosneft CEO Igor Sechin, the Indian companies will raise their stake in the Vankor oil field to almost 50 percent and buy about 30 percent of the Taas-Yuriakh field. The deals will help Rosneft, the world's biggested listed oil producer by output, to pay off debts incurred in its $55 billion acquisition of TNK-BP in 2013. Russia is keen to develop and deepen its Soviet-era economic ties with India and sell oil to one of the world's fastest-growing economies at a time when its own economy is stagnant, hit by Western sanctions and a plunge in global oil prices. Modi had pitched to Russian President Vladimir Putin for the granting of stakes to Indian oil firms during his visit to Moscow in December.
The Times of India writes:
Russia is keen to develop and deepen its Soviet-era economic ties with India and sell oil to one of the world's fastest-growing economies at a time when its own economy is stagnant, hit by western sanctions and a plunge in global oil prices. Modi had pitched to Russian President Vladimir Putin for the granting of stakes to Indian oil firms during his visit to Moscow in December.
Rosneft has not revealed the value of the deal. The Russian oil firm will retain a 50.1 percent stake in Vankor. The parties plan to finalize the deal by the end of June this year, according to Rosneft. The world’s fourth biggest oil consumer, India is seeking to buy assets abroad to ensure energy security amid crude price volatility. Cut off from Western financing due to international sanctions, Rosneft is looking to Asia for investment. Rosneft says it plans to acquire a stake in India’s Essar Oil by the end of June and will start crude deliveries to the company’s refinery this year.
