Rosneft plans to supply to 2 million tonnes of oil to India this year, the Russian oil major’s Chief Executive Igor Sechin told Russian President Vladimir Putin.
«We will begin with 2 million tonnes this year and will increase this to 20 million tonnes, which corresponds to the refining capacity at the Essar refinery in Vadinar, which will now also become affiliated to Rosneft,» Igor Sechin told Putin.
Rosneft signed a contract to purchase 49 % of the shares of Essar Oil Limited in October 2016 after the summit meeting between Vladimir Putin and Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
Another 49 % of Essar Oil was purchased by a consortium of investors, the shares of which are distributed as follows: European commodity trader Trafigura – 49 %, the United Capital Partners (UCP) group, owned by Ilya Shcherbovich – 49 % and Essar – 2 %.
The $12.9 billion deal is the largest ever foreign direct investment in India.
India, which is looking to reduce its energy dependence on Persian Gulf countries, has also signed liquefied natural gas supply agreements with Gazprom.
Rosneft continues working on international projects with its traditional partners and new ones. These include the company’s Indian partners, ONGC, BP, with whom Rosneft is developing work, US major Exxon, Norway’s Statoil, and Italy’s ENI.
«Work is developing in all areas. We will increase supplies to China to 31 million tonnes this year, and at the same time, we have consolidated our refining capacity in Europe,» the Rosneft CEO said.
Last month, Commodity trader Glencore and Qatar’s sovereign wealth fund agreed to buy a €10.2 bln stake in Rosneft from the Russian state.
The deal is considered a victory for Putin in light of the western sanctions against Russia.
Author: Aniket Chakraborty
