India opens energy office in Moscow to increase focus in the sector
Inauguration of India Energy office in Moscow by Secretary, India's Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Gas, Tarun Kapoor, Indian envoy to Russia D. Bala Venkatesh Varma and deputy minister of energy of Russia Pavel Sorokin Photograph:( WION )
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Energy will be the main area of cooperation between India and Russia during Russian President Putin's India visit later this year
India has opened an "energy office" in Moscow's well-known landmark Federation Tower that will presence of top five Indian energy PSUs even as Moscow and Delhi increase engagement in the sector. The 5 main Indian energy PSUs who will be present are--ONGC VIDESH Limited, Indian Oil Corp, GAIL (India), Oil India Limited, and Engineers India.
The office at the 45th floor of the Federation Tower was inaugurated during the presence of visiting Secretary, India's Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Gas, Tarun Kapoor, Indian envoy to Russia D. Bala Venkatesh Varma and deputy minister of energy of Russia Pavel Sorokin.
The Indian secretary said, "We already have a big collaboration with the Russian federation. Big investments have been made by Indian companies in Russia, and big investments have been made by Russian companies in India. Bilateral trade has also grown"
The sides are working towards the realisation of an ‘Energy Bridge’ between the two countries. India's Secretary in the Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Gas was in Russia for two days having a number of meetings.
Calling the opening of office "a huge step in our energy future" Indian envoy to Russia D. Bala Venkatesh Varma said, "energy vertical is now one of the most promising pillars of our special and privileged strategic partnership between India and Russia...India stand firmly with Russia in promoting its energy security and this is a strong message we want to give, including via the opening of this office"
Energy will be the main area of cooperation between India and Russia during Russian President Putin's India visit later this year. Russian President will be visiting India later this year for the annual India Russia summit and for the BRICS summit as India is the chair of the grouping.
Sorokin explained, "we hope it will be a new step and open the flow of investments in the country which is already in tens of billions of dollars" and will help us "drive new projects in the energy space...we hope to continue to work together"
