(PTI)
Union Petroleum Minister Dharmendra Pradhan today said Russian oil giant Rosneft planned to tap the retail fuel market in India in a big way. “Rosneft, the Russian oil major, who recently took over Essar Oil, are planning in a bigway to tap retail fuel market in India,” he told reporters after inaugurating City Gas Distribution (CGD) Project to supply eco-friendly natural gas to households, industries and transport sector, here.’ Three days back, Reliance Industries and its partner BP plc had announced investment of USD 6 billion in developing new gas fields in the KG-D6 block after an eight-year hiatus. The firms also agreed on a strategic cooperation on new opportunities for conventional and unconventional fuel trading and marketing, including jointly setting up petrol pumps.
Asked about the size of investment to be made by Rosneft and Essar to tap the fuel retailing market, Pradhan said both companies had invested USD 13 billion in Indian market in the last fiscal. “This was one of the biggest deals in the oil industry in the world,” he added. In the beginning of the second quarter of this year, BP and RIL had announced more than USD 6 billion investment in India, Pradhan said, adding this showed the progressive and nd reformative nature of the Narendra Modi governnment.
