Rosneft believes Indian market has long-term potential

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SME Times News Bureau | 24 Nov, 2021
Russian oil company Rosneft promotes a framework of integrated cooperation with Indian partners across the entire value chain, from the extraction of oil to the refining and distribution of oil products.

Since 2016, Indian companies (ONGC Videsh Ltd., Oil India Limited, Indian Oil Corporation, and Bharat Petroresources) own 49.9 per cent of the JSC Vankorneft subsidiary.

This Krasnoyarsk Territory-based enterprise is developing the Vankor oil and gas condensate field -- the largest field discovered and brought online in Russia in the last 25 years (extracted AB1+B2 reserves amount to 286 million tonnes of oil and condensate and 103 billion cubic metres of gas).

Furthermore, a consortium of Indian companies (Oil India Limited, Indian Oil Corporation and Bharat Petroresources) owns 29.9 per cent in Taas Yuryakh Neftegazodobycha (other shareholders are Rosneft and BP), which holds licences to areas in the Central Block of the Srednebotuobinskoye field and the Kurungsky licence block (AB1C1+B2C2 reserves total 168 million tonnes of oil and condensate and 198 billion cubic metres of gas).

Since 2001, an Indian company ONGC Videsh Ltd. has been a member of the Sakhalin-1 project (with Rosneft, ExxonMobil, and Japanese consortium SODECO among other shareholders). In 2020, the project produced 12.4 million tonnes of oil and condensate and supplied more than 2.4 billion cubic metres of gas to consumers.

Cumulative payments to Indian partners and the dividends from joint projects amounted to $4.6 billion over the past five years.

"Rosneft believes that the Indian market has a long-term potential, which is why the Company acquired a 49.13 per cent stake in Nayara Energy in 2017," a spokesperson of Rosneft said. The deal remains the largest foreign direct investment in India's oil and gas sector.

Nayara Energy is comprises top-quality assets, including the Vadinar refinery with a throughput of 20 mtpa. The refinery is the second largest facility of its kind in India and one of the most technologically advanced in the world.

"Rosneft is expanding its investment in the Indian economy: a major petrochemicals development programme is underway, with an investment of about $750 million at the current stage. In particular, there are plans to build polypropylene production units with a capacity of up to 450,000 tonnes per year," added Rosneft's spokesperson.

Nayara Energy's business also includes a deep-water port that can accommodate very large crude carriers (VLCC) and one of India's largest retail network. Nayara Energy looks to further expand its network of petrol stations in India to 8,000 over the next three years.

Rosneft has extensive experience in long-term contracts. The development of vertically integrated cooperation with Indian partners along the entire value chain from new upstream projects in Russia with joint flow control would strengthen India's energy security. "We hope that our new cooperation proposals will be welcomed by our Indian partners," Rosneft's spokesperson said.

"One of the promising areas of cooperation may be the Vostok Oil project, which is the largest greenfield oil and gas project in the world," said Rosneft. It is comprised of 52 licence areas with 13 oil and gas fields, including the Vankor field developed with the Indian partners, the Suzunskoye, Tagulskoye and Lodochnoye fields, as well as the new and promising Payakhskoye and Zapadno-Irkinskoye fields, unique in their reserves.

The project's resource base exceeds 6 billion tonnes (44 billion barrels) of oil with a uniquely low sulphur content of 0.01-0.04 per cent. The resource base is comparable to the largest oil provinces in the Middle East or the US shale formations. The high quality of the feedstock eliminates the need for separate units at refineries and significantly reduces the project's greenhouse gas emissions.

Vostok Oil is a project with low production costs per unit of output, with a carbon footprint 75 per cent lower than that of other major greenfield oil projects in the world. From drilling to pipeline and tanker design in the oil export chain, Vostok Oil already includes highly environmentally friendly technology in its design phase. The project plans to use, among other things, associated petroleum gas for power supply. It will also be supported by local wind power.

The project is expected to produce up to 100 million tonnes of oil in 2030. Vostok Oil's logistical advantage lies in its ability to deliver oil from the fields in two directions at once -- to European and Asian markets, including India.

Rosneft launched the full-scale development of the project's fields in 2020. In June 2021, during the XXIV St. Petersburg International Economic Forum, Rosneft entered into more than 50 contracts related to the project for a total amount of $7.8 billion.

In October, Rosneft completed a series of Vostok Oil roadshows for suppliers and contractors. The Company held 16 meetings with major works and services suppliers and engineering companies from 15 countries in Europe, Asia and the Middle East. Following the meetings, the Company received some 60 offers of cooperation.

Leading international experts' opinions on resource base, development technologies, and the project's economic model along with the legal experts' reports conclude that the project implementation is not subject to any sanctions restrictions.

To implement the project of an unprecedented scale, the Russian Federation provided Vostok Oil with a set of investment incentives to advance the project's infrastructure development.

These made it possible to form a sustainable economic model for the project and make it attractive for large global investors. Analysts at Goldman Sachs called Vostok Oil a "magnet for investors". Leading global investment banks estimate that "the project's net present value could be in the range of $75 billion to $120 billion."

The project's outstanding potential is confirmed by the interest exhibited by international investors: at the end of 2020, the major international trader Trafigura bought a 10 per cent stake in the project; in November 2021, a consortium led by Vitol acquired a 5 per cent stake in the project.

"Rosneft is currently negotiating entry into the project with a number of potential partners, including a consortium of Indian companies," added the spokesperson.