(ET)
India has rejected Russia’s offer of stake in five more oilfields in the Vankor Cluster in Siberia as it doesn’t want to concentrate its upstream investments in just one country, people with direct knowledge of the negotiations said. Indian state oil firms are now taking it easy after having invested about $5.4 billion last year to buy substantial stakes in two Russian fields. “We don’t want to put all our eggs in just one basket. Russia can keep offering fields but we can’t keep accepting every offer,” one of the persons cited earlier told ET.
Oil and Natural Gas Corp (ONGC), Oil India, IndianOil and Bharat Petroleum together bought 49.9% in Vankor last year for about $4.22 billion from Russian state firm Rosneft. Indian companies also signed a preliminary pact with Rosneft early last year to buy stake in three satellite fields, referred to as the Vankor Cluster.
