Rosneft and ONGC team up in offshore Arctic drilling

Rosneft and ONGC Videsh have signed a Memorandum of Understanding at the St. Petersburg International Economic Forum, in the presence of Vladimir Putin, President of the Russian Federation.

The Memorandum paves the way for the companies’ cooperation in subsurface surveys, exploration and appraisal activities and hydrocarbons production in Russia’s offshore Arctic.

The parties will jointly consider forming a consortium led by Rosneft and involving other partners.

ONGC Videsh is a wholly owned subsidiary of Oil and Natural Gas Corporation Limited (ONGC), the National Oil Company of India. It is India’s largest oil and gas exploration and production company outside India. At present, ONGC Videsh has activities in 33 projects spread across 16 countries. ONGC Videsh and Rosneft are partners in the Sakhalin-I oil and gas project in the Russian Federation.

ONGC is India’s largest government-run corporation and produces about 70% of India’s crude oil and natural gas. The corporation is the biggest public sector commercial organization in India with current market capitalization of about USD 60 billion. The Indian government holds a 68.94% stake in ONGC.