Economic Times: Putin Keen on Exporting LNG to India

Positioning Russia as a reliable energy supplier to Asia, President Vladimir Putin is keen to export liquefied natural gas (LNG) to India and involve ONGC in oil and gas hunt in the Arctic as he looks to deepen energy ties with India as a counter to US sanctions.

He says cost of selling natural gas to India through a cross-country pipeline was much higher than shipping it in its liquid form (LNG).

"Historically, Russia has exported most of its hydrocarbons to the West. However, European consumption is increasing too slowly, while political, regulatory and transit risks are on the rise.

"At the same time, the economies of Asian countries are growing rapidly. Thus, we are naturally interested in diversifying the destinations of our energy deliveries. We expect to secure ourselves a role of a reliable energy supplier to the Asian markets," he said in a wide-ranging interview to PTI.

Putin, who arrives here later tonight on a two-day state visit, cited involvement of state-owned Oil and Natural Gas Corp (ONGC) in Sakhalin-1 oil and gas project in Far East Russia and said Moscow was "interested in attracting new investments and technologies, including from India." MORE