India and Russia are moving ahead with the formation of a high-level Working Group for facilitating coking coal imports.

This was emphasised during discussions between Minister of Petroleum and Natural Gas and Steel, Dharmendra Pradhan, with Minister of Energy of Russia, Alexander Novak through Video Conferencing on Wednesday. The discussions also encompassed the global oil and gas scenario and review of bi-lateral cooperation in the sectors of oil and gas sector and coking coal.

“Emphasis was laid on the cooperation in the coking coal sector in which considerable headway had been made since the Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi's visit to Russia in September 2019. In this context the Russian Minister welcomed Pradhan’s suggestion of an early convening of a meeting of a high level WG (working group) to strengthen cooperation in coking coal with the aim of a conclusion of a MoU (Memorandum of Understanding),” an official statement said.

The two Ministers reviewed ongoing projects between India and Russia including the participation with Rosneft in the Vostok Project, Novatek supplies of LNG, cooperation between Gail and Gazprom, joint projects with Gazpromneft, supply of crude oil by Rosneft to Indian Oil among others.

The statement said that Novak briefed Pradhan on the recently signed OPEC+ agreement. Pradhan is said to have welcomed the agreement as an important step in providing stability and predictability to the global energy markets, which is important for India as a consuming nation.

Pradhan emphasised that Indian economy will continue to be the demand centre for hydrocarbons. Both sides agreed on the assessment of the current challenges to the global energy scenario and the important role India will play as a driver of a resurgence in demand which will be pivotal in global economic revival, the statement said.

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