India's OVL Keen on Sakhalin Stake

ONGC Videsh (OVL), the overseas arm of state-owned Oil and Natural Gas Corporation (ONGC), reiterated its interest in taking at least 20% stake in the Sakhalin-3 oil and gas fields and importing liquefied natural gas from Russia, Press Trust of India reported Wednesday.

Moscow has yet to respond to OVL’s overtures which the company has been making since 2006.

OVL Managing Director DK Sarraf raised the issue when Oil Minister S Jaipal Reddy met his Russian counterpart Sergey Shmatko on sidelines of the World Petroleum Congress (WPC) in Doha, Qatar.

Issue of importing at least 2 million tonnes of LNG a year from Russia's Sakhalin LNG project was also discussed.

Petronet would be soon finalising the agreement for sourcing LNG from Russia under the pact arrived at with Gazprom. The Heads of Agreement for supply of about 2.5 million tonnes of LNG were signed recently at Singapore.

The LNG is proposed to be sourced from Shtokman field. Petronet further showed interest in importing more LNG as demand in India was growing rapidly.