Perhaps one reason Pooty-Poot is sanguine about disemboweling Yukos.MOSCOW - India could sharply raise its Russian energy stakes by committing billions of dollars to develop oil and gas fields in Russia. With a series of hydrocarbon deals likely to be clinched during President Vladimir Putin's December visit to India, Moscow seemingly aims at building a strong partnership with India in the energy sector.
Russia and India have long discussed investments by India's Oil & Natural Gas Corp (ONGC) in Russia. "Russian companies are keen to invest heavily in India in core sectors like energy," Russian Deputy Prime Minister Alexander Zhukov announced on the eve of Putin's trip, which is due to start on Friday. He indicated that Moscow was "looking at possible cooperation in oil and gas". Zhukov said inter-governmental negotiations were on to resolve the issues hindering bilateral investment growth.
India already holds a 20% stake in the energy-rich Sakhalin-1 block, in which state-owned ONGC Videsh has made the largest overseas investment of $1.7 billion, which is expected to go up to $3.5 billion in the exploration stages. Last week, the cabinet committee on economic affairs approved an ONGC Videsh proposal for an additional investment of $1.07 billion in the Sakhalin-1 oil and gas field in Russia. The investment would be over and above the $1.7 billion already approved.
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In yet another gesture toward New Delhi, Moscow could allow Indian oilers to bid for embattled Russian oil major Yukos. The state-run ONGC could bid for acquiring Yukos assets, petroleum secretary S C Tripathi has announced. "The ONGC has discussed bidding for Yukos assets at a very preliminary level. It is a good idea and we have asked them to go ahead," Tripathi has said. He even said ONGC could look for an alliance with such firms as Gazprom of Russia because of the huge sums involved in the deal.
Asia Times
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