NEW DELHI (Sputnik) — Following the successful completion of the purchase of stakes in two oil and gas fields in Russia, Indian oil companies are eyeing more fields in Siberia. Sources in India's Oil and Natural Gas Ministry told Sputnik that a preliminary agreement between Indian companies and Russian companies is expected to be signed during President Vladimir Putin's visit to India this week.
An Indian consortium led by Oil India is in talks with Rosneft to acquire a 49% stake in Vankor Cluster assets. The Vankor Cluster comprises the Suzunskoye, Tagulskoye and Lodochnoye oilfields. All the fields have gas reserves of approximately 415 million tons. The deal is expected to be worth more than USD 2 billion. Sources say that deal will include some under-developed fields as well.
Earlier this month, an Indian consortium comprising Indian Oil, Oil India Limited and Bharat PetroResources Limited completed two transactions related to the purchase of a stake in Russian oil company Rosneft. In the first transaction, the consortium completed its acquisition of a 23.9% stake in JSC Vankorneft, owner of Vankor and North Vankor Field licenses, from Rosneft. The consortium also acquired a 29.9% stake in LLC Taas Yuryakh Neftegazdobycha from Rosneft.
