Come together

New Delhi, Feb. 9: Gazprom has invited ONGC to participate in eight oil and gas projects in Russia, including those in the eastern Siberia and the Russian Far East.

According to an official statement, the Oil and Natural Gas Corporation (ONGC) has also invited Gazprom to participate in integrated petrochemicals, LNG and power projects in India. The parties also exchanged views on joint opportunities in third countries, including Qatar, Myanmar, Libya, Vietnam, Cuba and the CIS.

ONGC and Gazprom have agreed to increase co-operation in hydrocarbon and power at the second meeting of their joint working group in Goa.

The protocol document was signed yesterday by R.S. Butola, managing director of ONGC Videsh, and A.I. Medvedev, deputy chairman of the board of Gazprom.

Under the agreement, the two companies will cooperate in the exploration of oil and gas fields in India, Russia and third countries; developing midstream and downstream oil and gas projects in India and Russia; supply of LNG to India and CNG-related projects in India.

They discussed the prospects of Indo-Russian cooperation in energy and reconfirmed their intention to widen the scope of long-term relations.

It was agreed to extend the MoU between ONGC and Gazprom for another two years.

The agreement on technical and scientific cooperation, exchange of specialists and staff training is expected to be signed by the parties shortly. The next meeting of the joint working group will be held in Russia in July.