Russia has urged India to deepen its investments in the sanction hit nation’s oil & gas sector and is keen on growing the sales networks of Russian companies in the third-largest economy in Asia.
Russia’s economy faces its most in-depth crisis since the collapse of the Soviet Union back in 1991, as the West enforces serious sanctions over Moscow’s full-scale military operation in Ukraine.
Meanwhile, several western nations have also encouraged India to denounce Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, after India announced to abstain from voting against Moscow, which is a long-standing arms and weapons supplier to India, at the United Nations.
“Russia’s oil as well as petroleum product exports to India have approached $1 billion, and there are clear opportunities to increase this figure,” said Russia’s Deputy Prime Minister Alexander Novak, according to a statement shared by Russia’s embassy in India late on Friday.
Meanwhile, Novak told the Indian Minister of Petroleum and Natural Gas, Hardeep Singh Puri that, “We are interested in further attracting Indian investment to the Russian oil and gas sector and expanding Russian companies’ sales networks in India,”
This week, the United States banned Russian oil imports. Britain said it would phase them out by year-end, decisions expected to disrupt further the global energy market, where Russia is the second-largest crude exporter.
Indian state-run firms hold stakes in Russian oil & gas fields, while Russian entities, including Rosneft, own a big stake in Indian refiner Nayara Energy. Several companies in India also buy Russian oil.
Novak said that Russia expects both nations to continue with cooperation on civilian nuclear power, including building new units at a nuclear power plant in the south Indian town of Kudankulam.