India confirms interest in Vostok Oil, Arctic LNG-2
Indian petroleum and natural gas minister Hardeep Singh Puri on September 6 said that India is looking to invest in Vostok Oil and the planned Arctic LNG-2 export projects in Russia.
“A number of new potential investments were discussed: Vostok Oil, Artic LNG-2 [and] petrochemicals," Puri, who was in Russia to attend the Eastern Economic Forum in Vladivostok, told reporters in Moscow before leaving for New Delhi. Puri uploaded a short clip of the interaction on Twitter late September 6.
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Russian news agency Interfax had earlier that day reported that Indian energy companies ONGC and Petronet LNG are considering involvement in Arctic LNG-2, Novatek's second LNG development in Russia's far north.
An Indian company representative who was involved in the talks told the news agency, on condition of anonymity, that Novatek was offering 9.9% of its stake out of its own 60%, but that no agreement had been reached, adding the offer of a stake was a recent development. France's Total has a 10% stake in the project, with the other 30% divided equally between China's CNPC and CNOOC and a Japanese joint venture.
The minister during his media interaction said that these investments will lead to further strengthening and deepening of relations between Russia and India.
Puri said that he met important industry leaders from the Russian energy sector. During his visit, the minister met with Novatek CEO Leonid Mikhelson and Rosneft CEO Igor Sechin, among others. Rosneft is developing Vostok Oil, a massive oil development in the Russian Arctic set to produce 1mn barrels/day of oil by the late 2020s.