India seeks stake in Sakhalin-3 oil field

After Sakhalin-I and Imperial Energy, India is seeking more oil and gas fields in Russia, with Oil Minister Murli Deora pitching for properties in East Siberia, along with Russian Prime Minister Vladmir Putin.

Energy-hungry New Delhi is keen on sourcing one million barrels per day of oil and oil-equivalent gas from Russia, and has identified Sakhalin-3, fields in East Siberia, and Trebs and Titov oilfields in Timan Pechora region for the purpose.

Deora, on a two-day visit to Moscow to further energy ties with a nation that has the largest oil and gas reserves after Saudi Arabia, met Energy Minister Sergy Shemato on Tuesday and Putin on Wednesday.

Officials said he wanted 10-20 percent stake for ONGC Videsh Ltd, the overseas arm of state-run Oil and Natural Gas Corp (ONGC), in the giant Sakhalin-3 oil and gas field in Far East Russia.

Besides, the minister made a case for OVL joining hands with Russian firm Rosneft for exploration and development of some fields in East Siberia.



Joint bidding for Trebs and Titov oilfields in Timan Pechora region and Vankor oilfield were also raised, they said.

Inviting Russian companies to invest in new refinery and petrochemical projects in India, Deora also flagged with Putin the approval awaited for OVL's USD 2.59-billion acquisition of UK-listed Imperial Energy Plc.

Putin heads the Government Commission on Monitoring Foreign Investment in the Russian Federation, which along with Federal Anti-Monopoly Service, is to vet OVL application.

The deal is contingent upon Kremlin's approval as Imperial has assets in Tomsk region of western Siberia. OVL already has 20 percent stake in Sakhalin-I oil and gas field in Far East Russia.



Deora's interaction with Putin focussed on increasing India's presence in Russia beyond Sakhalin-1 oil and gas field in Far East Russia, in which OVL has 20 percent stake.

Officials said OVL was eyeing oil fields in East Siberia, which is estimated to hold some 20 billion barrels of reserves.



It is also looking at participating in Russian continental shelf that may contain oil and gas in 4 million sq km of its total area of 6.5 million sq km (largest in the world).

OVL has 20 percent stake in ExxonMobil-operated Sakhalin-I project, which pumps 210,000 barrel oil per day.

If Kremlin approves, Imperial would be the biggest overseas acquisition of OVL. It had paid USD 1.7 billion to buy a stake in ExxonMobil Corporation's Sakhalin-I field in Russia and USD 785 million for a stake in the Greater Nile project in Sudan, both in 2003.

Imperial produced about 10,000 barrel oil per day in December 2007 and is targeting to raise this to 80,000 barrels per day (four million tonnes a year) by the end of 2011, all of which can be shipped to India.