According to an article published today in the Wall Street Journal:
"India is looking to finalize multibillion-dollar deals on liquefied gas and nuclear-power technology with Russia before Prime Minister Manmohan Singh's visit to Moscow later this month, a senior government official said Friday.
"India is looking to finalize multibillion-dollar deals on liquefied gas and nuclear-power technology with Russia before Prime Minister Manmohan Singh's visit to Moscow later this month, a senior government official said Friday.
India's trade with Russia totaled just over $11 billion in 2012, nearly a quarter more than the previous year, according the website of the Indian Embassy in Moscow. That was significantly smaller than India's bilateral trade of $65.78 billion with China and $61.35 billion with the U.S.
Moscow and New Delhi have a target to nearly double the value of their trade to $20 billion by 2015. Russia's exports to India include fertilizer, nuclear-power technology, iron and steel, and crude oil, while India's exports to that country comprise mostly pharmaceuticals, electrical goods, tea and coffee.
The deals that India is looking to sign include one on a liquefied natural gas project in the Yamal region. The region has proven gas reserves of more than 20 trillion cubic feet.
The government official said a consortium comprising India's ONGC Videsh Ltd., Indian Oil Corp. and Petronet LNG Ltd. is talking to OAO Novatek for acquiring a stake in the Yamal liquefied natural gas project and signing a long-term gas-supply agreement.
The Indian group has been in talks for nearly four years now for a stake, but without any headway. Novatek owns 50% of the project, with Total SA and China National Petroleum Corp. holding 20% each.
The Yamal LNG project holds a license to develop the South-Tambeyskoye field, located at the northeastern portion of the Yamal peninsula in Russia's western Arctic region. It is also building an onshore LNG facility near Sabetta on the Yamal peninsula".
