Essar Oil will tomorrow sign a 10-year deal to import crude oil from Russia as President Vladimir Putin pushes to deepen energy ties with India to counter to US sanctions.
Essar Oil's Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with Rosneft, Russia's biggest oil producer, is among the agreements that are to be signed during Putin's two-day visit, government and industry sources said.
Energy cooperation will figure prominantely in talks between Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Putin.
ONGC Videsh Ltd and Oil India Ltd (OIL) are likely to sign MoUs for exploration in Arctic and Eastern Siberia.
Before his arrival here, Putin in an interview to PTI positioned Russia as a reliable energy supplier to Asia and expressed desire to involve Indian firms in exploration in Arctic.
He says cost of selling natural gas to India through a cross-country pipeline was much higher than shipping it in its liquid form (LNG).
"Historically, Russia has exported most of its hydrocarbons to the West. However, European consumption is increasing too slowly, while political, regulatory and transit risks are on the rise.
"At the same time, the economies of Asian countries are growing rapidly. Thus, we are naturally interested in diversifying the destinations of our energy deliveries. We expect to secure ourselves a role of a reliable energy supplier to the Asian markets," he said.
Putin cited involvement of state-owned Oil and Natural Gas Corp (ONGC) in Sakhalin-1 oil and gas project in Far East Russia and said Moscow was "interested in attracting new investments and technologies, including from India."
"The issue of participation by the ONGC Videsh in hydrocarbons exploration in the Arctic is being actively discussed," he said adding that OVL and Russia's biggest oil company Rosneft had in May signed a MoU for cooperation in the Artic shelf.
"Gazpromneft is also interested in networking with Indian oil and gas companies with a view to implementing Arctic projects," he said.
Putin said Russian gas monopoly Gazprom delivered two LNG shiploads last year and has signed a long-term agreement with GAIL India Ltd for supply of 2.5 million tonnes a year of LNG for 20 years.
Russia - the world's top oil producer with current output of 10.5 million barrels per day - has offered OVL stake in two Siberian oilfields - Vankor and Yurubcheno-Tokhomskoye, an initial agreement for which may be signed during Putin's visit.
