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India aims to buy 1M bpd Russian crude
By agencies
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Monday, 20 March 2006, 20:30 IST
NEW DELHI: India aims to buy at least 1 million barrels per day (bpd) of Russian crude oil within five years, Prime Manmohan Singh said.
India imports about 2 million bpd of crude oil, mainly from West Asia and Nigeria and occasionally buys very small volumes from Russia.
"Russia is also our strategic partner in the energy sector," Singh said during talks with Russian Prime Minister Mikhail Fradkov in New Delhi, according to a government statement. Our objective is to lift at least 1 million barrels per day from Russia in the next five years as the necessary infrastructure is built at both ends, he added.
He also said India was keen to buy Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG) from Russia and join hands with Moscow in the pipelines sector. Separately, Indian Oil Corp. said it had signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with Russia's Stroytransgaz to team up on pipeline projects.
He added that gas pipelines were vital to provide energy supplies to power-hungry India and its booming economy. It is in that context that we have welcomed the proposal to have a pipeline which brings together Iran, Pakistan and India, Singh added.