Russia's Rosneft and Indian Oil Corporation Limited (IOCL) signed a contract to supply up to 2 million tonnes of oil to India via the port of Novorossiysk by the end of 2020, Rosneft announced on Wednesday.
The signing took place during the visit of the Chief Executive Officer of Rosneft Igor Sechin to New Delhi. During this visit, a working meeting was also held with Indian minister of oil and gas Dharmendra Pradhan.
According to Rosneft, an important subject of talks between Sechin and Pradhan was the issue of providing Indian consumers with quality crude and petroleum-based products, including the increase in Russian oil supplies to India.
'During the meeting, the parties discussed the ongoing joint projects of Rosneft and Indian companies, including Sakhalin-1, Taas-Yuryakh, the Vankor cluster (a consortium of Indian companies owns 49% in the Vankor cluster field), Far East LNG, and Nayara Energy,' Rosneft said.
'As Dharmendra Pradhan said, the Indian side has already made a principal decision to participate in the project. In order to negotiate the terms of Indian companies' entering Vostok Oil in the shortest time possible the parties agreed to create a regular working group of representatives of Russian and Indian companies,' Rosneft noted.
By Murat Temizer
Anadolu Agency
energy@aa.com.tr