India receives first direct shipment of Russian LNG under long term contract
India received its first direct shipment of Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG) from Russia’s Yamal LNG project over .
The shipment was supplied by Russian gas company Gazprom under its long-term (20 year) LNG contract with GAIL (India) Ltd, it was been learnt.
The shipment travelled through the Northern Sea Route, Pacific Ocean and Indian Ocean to GAIL’s Dabhol terminal.
Earlier in 2018, India received its cheapest LNG under a long-term deal as Russia began shipping natural gas. Gazprom then supplied the 3.4 trillion British thermal unit (TBtu) of cargo from Nigeria. India will import LNG worth an estimated $25 billion over the contract period from Russia and price is cheaper than India’s some of other foreign sources.
Russia has emerged as a long-term source for India’s hydrocarbon imports and energy ties are key pillar of the strategic partnership. The two sides are working on a multi-pronged approach that involves energy sourcing and supplies, upstream investments in Russia and India, and joint collaboration for petrochemical business, official sources pointed out.
Eyeing to maintain stability in oil & gas supplies India has expanded the energy bridge with Russia with oil majors signing fresh deals with their Russian counterparts during the visit of Oil & Natural Gas Minister Hardeep Singh Puri to Vladivostok for the 2021 edition of the Eastern Economic Forum in September.
ONGC and IOC signed separate MoUs with Russian gas sector giant Gazprom at the Forum. At the Forum, Puri met Dmitry Konov, chairman of the management board of Russia’s largest integrated petrochemicals firm PJSC SIBUR Holding.
IOC is in talks with Russian PJSC SIBUR Holding to set up a large petrochemical facility in India, official sources indicated. This was Puri’s maiden visit abroad since being appointed Oil & Gas Minister.
Indian oil and gas companies are keen to further expand their investments in Russian oil & gas fields including in the Far East Russia and Arctic region. India’s cumulative investment in oil and gas projects in Russia exceeds $ 15 billion. It is the single largest destination of Indian overseas investment in the oil and gas sector.
Russian oil giant Rosneft and its partner in 2017 bought Essar Oil, renamed Nayara Energy, for $ 12.9 billion.
Last year IOC had signed a deal with Rosneft for the annual purchase of 2 million tonne of crude oil. This was the first-ever annual oil purchase deal between the two countries. India is looking for opportunities for involvement of Indian companies in infrastructure development projects in the Siberian and Arctic regions. India is also looking to invest in Rosneft’s Vostok project. The Vostok Oil is one of the most prospective oil production projects in the world. It includes 52 license areas with a resource base of more than 6 billion tons of oil. Oil and gas reserves in the Russian Arctic may be sufficient for the country if necessary for decades and even centuries, according to Russian Deputy Prime Minister Alexander Novak.
