Growing Indian economy needs oil and gas in large measures - by kesh_wal
The growing Indian economy needs oil and gas in large measures to fuel it and fortunately the people who matter have learnt their lessons well to successfully launch their oil diplomacy.
India's ONGC Videsh Ltd (OVL), the overseas arm of state-run Oil and Natural Gas Company (ONGC), signed an agreement with state-owned Petroleos de Venezuela SA (PDVSA) to pump 232.38 million barrels of crude over 25 years.
OVL, which will hold 40% stake of the joint venture, will initially invest US$450 million over the next three years in the Orinoco basin's San Cristobal oilfield. Petrolera IndoVenezolana, the new venture, hopes to double daily crude output from the field to 60,000 barrels in next few years.
India is on a global hunt for new and reliable sources of oil and gas to fuel its rapidly growing economy, with mixed results. It has suffered several defeats in its attempts to clinch oil and gas deals, losing bids in Sudan, Angola, Indonesia, Ecuador, Kazakhstan and Myanmar, often to Chinese companies. It has also scored significantly in buying equity stakes in Russia's Sakhalin-I project and in Sudan's Greater Nile project.
India's quest for access for energy resources in South America has been largely trouble-free. Central Asia has been a different experience, rendering significant the MoU with Turkmenistan. Its importance increases in the context of the proposed Turkmenistan-Afghanistan-Pakistan-India pipeline, which envisages bringing gas from the Daulatabad gas fields in Turkmenistan, through Afghanistan and Pakistan to the Indian town of Fazilka, near the India-Pakistan border.