The Hindu : Business : Russia invites India to invest in energy sector

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Wednesday, Feb 23, 2005

Business

Business

Russia invites India to invest in energy sector

By Vladimir Radyuhin

MOSCOW, FEB. 22. Russia is keen to have India invest in its energy sector and is ready to discuss various options, the Russian Deputy Prime Minister, Alexander Zhukov, said.

"We regard India as our strategic partner, including in the sphere of energy cooperation," Mr. Zhukov told the visiting Petroleum Minister, Mani Shankar Aiyar, on Tuesday. "Russia is interested in getting Indian investment in energy projects and is willing to discuss different forms for this cooperation."

Mr. Aiyar said India was prepared to invest billions of dollars in the Russian oil and gas industry and was interested in getting stakes in Yuganskneftegas, the former Yukos' main oil production unit confiscated by the Russian Government, as well as in Sakhalin-3, Vankor and Northern Oil.

"ONGC has sufficient funds to buy a stake in Yuganskneftegaz, and its OVL subsidiary for overseas operations can raise up to $25 billion," the Petroleum Minister told reporters on Monday.

ONGC and Russia's natural gas monopoly, Gazprom, signed a memorandum of understanding on Monday pledging to explore possibilities for joint ventures in India, Russia and third countries to produce oil and gas and to build trunk pipelines.

Presenting a roadshow for India's 2005 oil and gas exploration round on Monday Mr. Aiyar urged Russian energy companies to heavily invest in India and to jointly build an Asian oil and gas community that would be stronger than the European Union.

"The oil industry of India is your child — you created it," the Petroleum Minister said recalling that the British had been telling India for 150 years that it had no oil, but then Russians came and helped India find oil and build its production from zero to 33 million tonnes a year.

"Yesterday we were your baby and you were our Mom. Now we have grown up and become your sister and partner," Mr. Aiyar told a packed hall of Russian oil officials in the posh Balchug-Kempinski Hotel in Moscow.

"Even as the Soviet Union played a major role in protecting our territorial integrity during the first 50 years of our independence, so I am sure its successor state, the Russian Federation, will play a critical role in ensuring our energy security during our second 50 years," the Petroleum Minister said.

Asia being the fastest growing energy market, Russia and India should jointly build an Asian oil and gas community, similar to Europe's steel and coal union which has led to the European Union, and in case of Asia may lead to a much closer alliance between Asian nations, Mr. Aiyar said.

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