Oil Minister Dharmendra Pradhan on Thursday began a three-day visit to Moscow, seeking stake in more oil and fields in Russia and inviting Russian investment in refining and petrochemical business.
Pradhan met Russian oil firm Rosneft officials to discuss collaboration between the two nations.
"Met with Mr Didier Casemiro, Deputy CEO, Mr Krysz Zielicki, Head Business Development, Mr Anand, CEO - Nayara Energy representing @RosneftEN. Discussed scope of collaboration in the Oil & Gas sector & ways to leverage Russian expertise in Indian E&P and Refining sectors," Pradhan tweeted after the meeting.
A Rosneft-led consortium had in 2017 bought Essar Oil that operates 20 million tonne refinery at Vadinar and over 5,500 petrol pumps in the country, for USD 12.9 billion. Essar Oil has since been renamed Nayara Energy.
Pradhan welcomed Rosneft to make new investments in refining and petrochemicals business in India.
He also met Russian officials to discuss bilateral cooperation.
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"Met State Secretary and Deputy Minister of Industry and Trade of the Russian Federation Viktor Evtukhov and explored avenues for strengthening economic cooperation, enhancing flow of investments between our two countries," he said in another tweet.
India and Russia have a long history of cooperation in the steel sector. "Deliberated on further strengthening our relations in this sector in areas of coking coal sourcing, technology transfer, skill development etc," he said.
He also held discussions with Russian Deputy Prime Minister & Presidential Envoy to Far Eastern Federal Districts of Russia, Yury P Trutnev.
"We discussed to expand the scope of co-operation between India & Far Eastern Russia, in the energy and steel sectors," he tweeted. "Also discussed to further co-operation in the sourcing of metallurgical coal and crude oil from Far East of Russia. Reiterated that Russia is a valued & important energy partner for India in its objective of transforming into a gas-based economy."
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