Union Minister for Oil and Gas Dharmendra Pradhan four-day visit to Japan and Russiafrom October 22 to 26. A statement by the Ministry of External Affairs said that Pradhan’s visit comes as a follow up to the visit of Prime Minister Narendra Modi to Vladivostok for the Eastern Economic Forum last month. Together with official and business delegation reviewed the existing India-Russia relations, especially, in oil, gas and steel sector, and also sourcing of coking coal from afar East Russia. Also, ascertained ways of diversifying the engagement in these areas.
Had a productive meeting with Indian Ambassador to Russia, Bala Venkatesh Varma @IndEmbMoscow upon Minister Pradhan arrival in Russia The ship building facility at Zvezda started in 2016 and is manufacturing various kinds of vessels including, LNG carriers, off-shore vessels and also, ice-breaking ships which makes navigation easy in the often frozen arctic waters. En route to the Russian shipbuilding complex at Zvezda. One of the largest shipyards in Eastern Russia. Reviewed oil & gas projects being undertaken in the Russian Far East, including India-Russia joint collaborations.
During his visit, Pradhan will be meeting First Deputy Minister for Development of the Russian Far East and Arctic Sergey Tyrtsev, and Rosneft CEO Igor Sechin. Rosneft is the leader in the Russian oil sector and the largest global public oil and gas corporation. The company is focused on exploration and appraisal of hydrocarbon fields, production of oil, gas and gas condensate, offshore field development projects, feedstock processing, sales of oil, gas and refined products in the territory of Russia and abroad.
Pradhan will also visit the shipbuilding Complex Zvezda and the Sakhalin-1 oil and gas project in Russia’s Far East. At the same time, the minister will explore and discuss possible areas of collaboration in other sectors like coking coal, and shipping routes. ONGC Videsh Ltd, a PSU under the Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Gas, had joined Sakhalin-1 consortium by acquiring 20 per cent participating interest in July 2001. The project is one of the largest single foreign direct investments in Russia. In addition, Engineers India Ltd. (EIL) will sign a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with the Russian National Chamber of Engineers. The MOU will strengthen the symbolic bilateral energy cooperation, as the technical expertise of both organisations will help EIL in providing its services for upcoming projects across the hydrocarbons value chain in Russia, the official statement said. Next, Pradhan will visit Tokyo at the invitation of Japanese Minister of Trade and Industry from October 25-26 to participate in the Global Forum on Steel Excess Capacity (GFSEC) Ministerial meeting that will involve policy discussions. Japan is currently holding the Chair of the forum.
Further, the oil minister will hold talks with his Japanese counterpart, Isshu Sugawara, to discuss issues related to bilateral collaboration in the fields of energy and steel. He will also visit Japanese steel industries to discuss strengthening collaborative investments in India. Pradhan will also hold bilateral meetings with his counterparts from other countries on the sidelines of the GFSEC Ministerial meeting. “India and Japan have a lot of synergies in the energy sector. In the run-up to energy transition in India to a gas-based economy, India is collaborating on a big scale with Japan in the LNG sector, to inter alia, exchange best practices and to develop a flexible global LNG Market,” the statement said
