New Delhi: India and Russia on Friday held talks to boost energy cooperation, with both countries agreeing to resolve issues faced by their investors in the oil and gas sector.
At the annual summit in New Delhi in 2025, the two sides also discussed expanding ties in other areas of energy, including oil, petrochemicals, liquefied petroleum gas (LPG), liquefied natural gas (LNG) and related infrastructure, according to a joint statement issued after a meeting between Prime Minister Narendra Modi and visiting Russian President Vladimir Putin.
The talks are gaining importance as India’s state-owned ONGC Videsh (OVL) raises concerns that it will not receive equity oil for its 20% stake in Russian oil company Rosneft’s Sakhalin-1 project. Mint had earlier reported that the Russian Federation and Rosneft stuck to their stance of paying dividends in lieu of OVL’s stake in the Sakhalin-1 oil and gas field, even though India wants equity oil as agreed earlier.
Read also | India Buys More Russian Oil – But Its Rupee Ruble Plan Doesn’t Work
Indian energy companies are also struggling to repatriate dividends from their Russian oil and gas assets, with large sums still stuck in Russia.
The talks between Modi and Putin come as the US pressures India to curb imports of Russian oil and has imposed sanctions on major suppliers Rosneft and Lukoil effective November 21.
The two sides discussed and appreciated their broad cooperation in the energy sector as an important pillar of a “special and privileged strategic partnership”, the joint statement added.
“They also noted the importance of speedy resolution of issues related to investment projects in the area and agreed to resolve various issues faced by their investors in the energy sector,” the statement said.
Read also | Russia’s Delo Group eyes terminals, shipbuilding push in India as Putin arrives
In addition to a 20% stake in Sakhalin-1, OVL also holds a 26% stake in CSJC Vankorneft, which owns the Vankor Field and North Vankor license, where an Indian consortium including state-owned Indian Oil Corp. Ltd., Oil India Ltd. and Bharat PetroResources Ltd. also holds a 23.9% stake. Its operator is RN Vankor, an affiliate of Rosneft, which owns a 50.1% stake. In addition, a consortium of Indian Oil Corp., Oil India and Bharat PetroResources has a 29.9% stake in LLC Taas-Yuryakh. OVL also acquired Imperial Energy Corp. Plc. which has 10 exploration and production (E&P) license blocks in the Tomsk region of western Siberia.
During Putin’s two-day visit to India, his first in four years, the two sides sought to deepen cooperation in trade, energy technology, connectivity and defense among other sectors.
Russian state-owned energy company Rosneft has approximately 49% stake in Nayara Energy, which operates a refinery in Vadinar, Gujarat. In 2019, Rosneft became the first Russian state-owned energy giant to invest in the Indian energy space when it acquired a 49.13% stake in Essar Oil India from Essar Energy Holdings Ltd and its affiliates and renamed it Nayara Energy in 2018. European Union sanctions hit the refinery.
Read also | India poised to meet six-fold increase in demand for battery storage by 2047
According to the joint statement, the two sides took note of the current and potential cooperation between Indian and Russian companies in areas such as oil and petroleum products, oil refining and petrochemical technology, oilfield services and upstream technology and related infrastructure, LNG and LPG related infrastructure, various existing projects in their countries, underground coal gasification (UCG) technology and nuclear projects.
The energy partnership between the two countries has increased over the past few years. Russia has also been a major oil supplier to India since FY23 as it offered deep discounts amid Western curbs and sanctions following the outbreak of war with Ukraine in February 2022. However, exports to India have fallen somewhat following the imposition of US sanctions on Rosneft and Lukoil.
Energy played a key role in bilateral trade between New Delhi and Moscow as it reached a record $68.7 billion in FY25, almost 7 times the pre-pandemic $10.1 billion. India imported products worth $63.84 billion in the last fiscal, mainly oil.
