The Hindu Business Line : Asian oil producers, consumers' round-table meet tomorrow — India to sign 6 MoUs with Korea, one with Turkey

INDIA is set to sign six agreements with Korea and another with Turkey during the roundtable meeting of North and Central Asian oil producers with major Asian oil consumers to be held on Friday.

This roundtable follows the one held in January, as part of efforts to enhance energy dialogue among leading producers and consumers in the continent, where major Asian consumers meet their counterparts from South East and West Asian oil producers.

``The idea is to explore areas of common interest such as stability of oil prices, security and sustainability through interdependence and mutual cooperation,'' Mr S.C. Tripathi, Secretary, Petroleum, said at a press conference here on Wednesday.

Elaborating on the memoranda of understanding (MoUs) with Korea and Korean companies, the Secretary said these include a range of areas for hydrocarbon cooperation, strategic underground petroleum storage, technical collaboration on gas hydrates, hydrogen, compressed natural gas (CNG) and fuel cells.

The strategic alliance between ONGC Videsh Ltd and Korea National Oil Company (KNOC) to be inked on Friday could even lead to joint bidding of oil and gas assets in future. The MoU for strategic underground petroleum storage facility would be signed between the Oil Industry Development Board (OIDB) and KNOC, Mr Tripathi said.

Indian Oil Corporation Ltd (research and development) would be inking two agreements, one with KOGAS for hydrogen and CNG, and the other with Korean Institute of Science and Technology for hydrogen and fuel cell.

The MoU with Turkey would cover wide-ranging cooperation in the hydrocarbons sector, he said.

The roundtable would also discuss issues such as the role of Asian oil markets, cross investments among the countries and the viability of an Asian gas grid among others, Mr Tripathi said.

China, Japan, South Korea and India are the biggest consumers of petroleum products while north and central Asian countries such as Russia, Turkmenistan, Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, Azerbaijan and Turkey are the principal oil and gas producers.

The conference will be chaired by the Petroleum Minister, Mr Mani Shankar Aiyar, and co-chaired by the Russian Energy Minister, Mr V. Kristenko. Energy Ministers and representatives from Korea, Uzbekistan, Japan, Kazakhstan, Azerbaijan and Turkey would participate in the meeting. China would be represented by its Ambassador to India, Mr Sun Yuxi, as it does not have an Energy Minister at the moment.

Oil from Sakhalin:

India expects to get its first shipment of oil from Sakhalin-I fields, Russia, from the second quarter of 2006. "We expect to import as much as 20,000 barrels of oil a day from Sakhalin-1 project from the second quarter of 2006," Mr R.S. Butola, Chairman of ONGC Videsh Ltd (OVL), said.

Speaking on the sidelines of the press conference, he said, "India is entitled to oil from Sakhalin in proportion to its investment in the project." In the Sakhalin-I fields OVL has a 20 per cent stake.

``Our share of 20 per cent entitles us for 50,000 bpd of crude oil from peak output of 250,000 bpd. But since we have also financed Rosneft's share, we would get their share of oil as well till the loan is repaid,'' he said.

``Currently, the limited production from the fields is being sold in the domestic market of Russia. From the second quarter of 2006, we expect 50,000 barrels a day (bpd) of output and we plan to ship our share of production to India,'' he said.

Sakhalin crude, which is low in sulphur, can either be shipped directly to India or swapped with Japan or Korea.

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