Pipeliners

11.01.2006 MosNews - India’s Minister for Petroleum and Natural Gas Murli Deora, who was in Moscow for talks with Russian Industry and Energy Minister Viktor Khristenko, welcomed the Russian proposal to participate in the India-Pakistan-Iran gas pipeline. After his talks with Khristenko, Deora said that India has welcomed the Russian participation in the 2,700 kilometer project in the form of technological, financial and investment assistance. ’’From India, I welcomed the proposal by Khristenko during the talks. It is a very important that we from India welcome the participation by Russian companies in the India-Pakistan-Iran gas pipeline,“ Deora was quoted by PakTribune as saying. He stressed:’’We will take up this issue with Iran and Pakistan.’’ Deora is on a two-day visit to participate in the ’’Moscow Energy Week,’’ an international gathering for representatives of oil industry. He also invited the Russian minister to attend the ceremony that will be held in the first week of December at Mangalore. The ceremony, which will be attended by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, will be held to receive the first shipment of crude oil from Sakhalin-1 project in Russia’s Far East. The first shipment of about 90,000 tons crude oil by the ONGC’s overseas arm, the OVL, from Sakalin-1 project would be processed at ONGC’s subsidiary Mangalore Refinery and Petrochemicals Ltd (MRPL). Deora said during the talks with Khristenko, the sides exchanged views on the issue of increased cooperation between Indian and Russian oil companies. ’’The issue of obtaining participating interest in upstream projects of Russia came up for discussion,’’ he said adding the OVL would make large investments in the E&P projects likely to come up in Sakhalin region.