A significant event for Russia and India have taken place on March, 2nd - the opening of the India Energy Office(IEO) in Moscow. The platform, created at the initiative of the five largest Indian oil and gas companies, will determine the development of energy relations not only between Moscow and Delhi, but also of the whole world. Yulia Zuban will tell everything about Indian-Russian relations in the enegy sector.
For Russia such relations with India are very promising. While European countries are changing traditional energy sources to green energy, the demand of rapidly developing Asian countries for energy resources is only growing, which makes cooperation beneficial for both parties.
India today is one of the countries with rapid growth of economy, which at the same time has not yet reached its full potential. This is evidenced by the largely agrarian nature of the economy and the high proportion of people without education in the country. However, despite all the problems that still exist, the country is confidently moving along the course of global development and industrialization, in which energy security is the first priority.
Until now, Russia and India have already implemented several successful joint projects in the energy sector. First, the Kudankulam nuclear power plant is worth mentioning. It was built by Russia in the southern Indian state of Taminlad. Joint work on the power plant has been going on since the late 1990s, and in 2013 it was commissioned. The nuclear power plant is the largest in India, two power units are currently in operation, and four more are planned to be built.
Investments in projects significant for both parties are also an important part of energy cooperation between countries. To ensure the energy security of the country, for India it is important to participate in the process of resource extraction, including one in other countries. Since 2006 India and Russia has been together developing oil and gas fields on the Sakhalin shelf. Moreover, in 2008 the Indian company OVL acquired Imperial Energy company, which developed fields in the Tomsk region. In 2016 OVL also acquired 15% in the Vankor field from Rosneft company, later signing an agreement to purchase another 11%. Joint projects in the field of liquefied natural gas (LNG) production and the development of the Arctic shelf are promising too.
Cooperation between countries within a multilateral format is also important, primarily within the BRICS and RIC (Russia - India - China). Thanks to the exchange of views within the framework of these organizations and a joint vision of world problems, three countries were able to successfully establish cooperation in many fields, including in the energy sector.
All in all, it can be seen that cooperation between two countries, which are so significant both economically and politically, will lead to common prosperity. We fully support the idea of establishing the India Energy Office and will look forward to future milestones in the Russian-Indian Energy Partnership.