Rosneft to supply additional 15 million barrels of oil to India in 2020

Moscow — Russian oil company Rosneft has signed a contract with refiner Indian Oil Corp. to supply up to 2 million mt, some 14.7 million barrels, of crude before the end of 2020.

The announcement follows months-long negotiations between the two sides on boosting deliveries to enhance India's energy security in the wake of attacks on Saudi oil infrastructure in September.

The oil will be shipped to the refiner via the port of Novorossiysk, Rosneft said in a statement.

Rosneft also supplies crude to India's Nayara Energy, in which it owns 49.13% and which operates the 20 million mt/year Vadinar refinery.

The contract for additional crude supplies was signed during the visit of Rosneft CEO Igor Sechin to New Delhi, where he met with Indian minister of oil and gas Dharmendra Pradhan.

Among other topics, Sechin and Pradhan discussed investment opportunities for India in Russia's Siberian and Arctic projects.

Vostok Oil participation

India has also made a "principal decision" to enter Rosneft's Vostok Oil project, or Eastern Oil cluster in the north of the Krasnoyarsk region.

"Sechin and I agreed... [on] preparing a roadmap for Indian investments in the Eastern Cluster projects of Russia, especially in the Arctic," Pradhan said on Twitter following the signing.

A consortium of Indian Oil Corp ., ONGC Videsh, Oil India and Bharat Petroresources owns a combined 49.9% stake in the Vankor field, which will form part of Vostok Oil.

The sides aim to negotiate the terms of Indian companies' entering Rosneft's new project "in the shortest time possible", the company said.

According to Rosneft, oil production at the cluster may reach 100 million mt, or around 2 million b/d, by 2030.