Petroleum minister Murli Deora has invited Russian oil companies to participate in the growing refining sector in India. Underlining that the country?s refined petroleum products exports to some of the world?s most sophisticated markets have touched $40 billion, he said the sector offered immense opportunities to the Russian companies.
Deora, who was accompanied by a high-level delegation in the hydrocarbon sector, held discussions with Russian Prime Minister Victor A Zubkov on Monday.
The meeting is a follow up
of the successful summit between Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and President Vladimir V Putin earlier
this month in Moscow. Both sides discussed various avenues of cooperation between the two countries.
The emphasis was on the mutually beneficial projects in upstream, mid-stream and down stream sectors in India, Russia and third countries between the companies of the two countries in the hydrocarbon sector.
According to an official statement, it was agreed that the national oil companies of the two countries should concretise mutually beneficial projects in the fields of exploration and production, grassroots refineries, modernisation of refineries, gas-based petrochem plants, gas processing plants, participation in LNG and inform the progress to the leadership of the two countries. Both sides noted that India has emerged as a hub of refining in Asia.
The discussions will continue at the second Indo-Russian forum on trade and investment scheduled for February in New Delhi when a delegation of leading Russian businessmen will be led by Zubkov.