India has rejected Russia’s offer of stake in 5 more oilfields in the Vankor Cluster in Siberia as it doesn’t want to concentrate its upstream investments in just one country, people with direct knowledge of the negotiations said The Economic Times on September 7, 2017.
Indian state oil firms are now taking it easy after having invested about $5.4 billion last year to buy substantial stakes in 2 Russian fields.
«We don’t want to put all our eggs in just one basket. Russia can keep offering fields but we can’t keep accepting every offer,» one of the persons cited earlier told ET.
ONGC, Oil India, Indian Oil and Bharat Petroleum together bought 49.9% in Vankor last year for about $4.22 billion from Rosneft.
Indian companies also signed a preliminary pact with Rosneft early last year to buy stake in 3 satellite fields, referred to as the Vankor Cluster.
Oil India is leading the negotiations for 5 state firms, including ONGC, Indian Oil, BPCL and HPCL, which are interested in the Vankor cluster.
Mid-way through the negotiations, Rosneft had offered to club 5 more fields in the same region to the 3 that were already on the table, another person said.
These 5 fields are not developed assets. Indian companies had a preliminary look at the offer and then conveyed to Rosneft that they had no interest in the 5 new fields being offered and would like to limit their negotiations to just 3 fields of Suzunskoye, Tagulskoye and Lodochnoye that were already being discussed, he said.
This new offer and rejection delayed the negotiation for the Vankor Cluster, which has taken one and a half years and not yet closed, the person cited earlier said.
«The evaluation is underway. We have invested enough in Russia, so there is no urgency to quickly seal the deal», he said. «Besides, there are competing investment opportunities across the globe for Indian oil firms, which have limited capital and wouldn't want to put all of it in just one region.»
