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Putin for expansion of energy ties

— Photo: PTI

Minister of Petroleum and Natural Gas Murli Deora calls on Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin in Moscow on Wednesday.

MOSCOW: Russia is looking to expand energy cooperation with India, Prime Minister Vladimir Putin told visiting Petroleum and Natural Gas Minister Murli Deora.

During their 45-minute meeting on Wednesday Mr. Putin assured Mr. Deora that Russia was willing to discuss India’s participation in the Sakhalin-3 oil and gas project and was keen to set up other joint ventures in the energy field.

Mr. Deora told The Hindu that at his request Mr. Putin was deputing Russia’s Energy Minister Sergei Shmatko to Delhi for talks on Sakhalin-3 and other joint projects ahead of President Dmitry Medvedev’s visit to India.

Mr. Shmatko will also take part in the India-CIS Roundtable on Hydrocarbons in Delhi on 25–26 November.

Mr. Putin was supportive of Mr. Deora’s proposal to form a joint venture between ONGC Videsh Limited (OVL) and Rosneft for taking up exploration and development projects in east Siberia.

Mr. Deora also invited Russian companies to participate in refinery and petrochemical projects in India and in the oil and gas exploration and production.

He suggested that Russian and Indian companies join hands to take up oil and gas projects also in other countries.

During his two-day visit to Russia, Mr. Deora also met his Russian counterpart, Mr. Shmatko.

Mr. Deora said the acquisition of Russia’s Imperial Energy company by OVL was not discussed during his talks in Moscow as the deal was going through the normal course of clearance by the Russian government.

Corrections and Clarifications

The last paragraph of a report "Putin for expansion of energy ties" (November 6, 2008) was "[Union Petroleum and Natural Gas Minister] Mr. Deora said the acquisition of Russia's Imperial Energy company by OVL [ONGC Videsh Limited] was not discussed during his talks in Moscow as the deal was going through the normal course of clearance by the Russian government." A reader said that Imperial Energy Company is a Russia-focussed British oil explorer company and ONGC finalised the deal to acquire the company at 2.59 billion USD. Russia Correspondent Vladimir Radyuhin clarifies that ONGC has indeed acquired Imperial Energy (IE) for about $2.6 billion, but the deal is subject to clearance by the Russian government since IE operates in Russia and has a number of oil production licenses in Siberia. The acquisition has already been cleared by the Natural Resources Ministry and is now being scrutinised by the Federal Anti-Monopoly Service, a mergers and acquisitions watchdog.

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