India-Russia energy cooperation to transform ties

Moscow, Jan 24: Prime Minister Dr. Manmohan Singh said that energy cooperation between India and Russia will be at the centre of bilateral economic and trade cooperation, which can radically transform the nature of bilateral economic ties.

"Energy, I believe, can transform the nature of our economic ties. We believe the two sides can promote such cooperation based on political understanding while realising it on commercial terms," Dr Singh said in an interview to Russian mass media on the eve of President Vladimir Putin's visit to India, for the annual India-Russia summit on January 25-26.

"We are very keen that our cooperation with Russia in the field of energy should be multiplied many fold," he noted.

He said the Indian economy was growing at the rate of eight to nine per cent a year, and per capita energy consumption was still very low, adding that India's annual energy imports amount about 120 million tonnes, expected to go up to 200 million tonnes by 2015.

"India is a huge long-term market for energy. Therefore, I believe our two countries have enormous potential to strengthen our cooperation not only in the sphere of hydrocarbons," he said.

The Prime Minister stressed that Russia and India must be natural partners in this field.

"When President Putin says that long-term security of both demand and supply are important, we fully agree with him. There is a clear compatibility between India's needs and Russia's resources," he said.

"India's interest in the Russian energy sector is not theoretical, it is a practical interest, proved by our investment in Sakhalin-1. We are very keen that the experiment of Sakhalin-1 should beextended to other oil-fields," Dr Singh added.

"We are willing to invest more if the opportunity arises. We are also willing to offer Russian companies participation in Indian oil and gas projects, both upstream and downstream," the Prime Minister said.

Referring to the ongoing Russian construction of two nuclear power plants in Kudankulam, he said Russian nuclear power technology was internationally competitive.

"Since we have major plans to increase the share of nuclear power in our energy mix, there are concrete opportunities for cooperation in this area. We would also like this cooperation to expand in years to come," he said.

UNI