As much as 8 billion rubles (about Rs 1,000 crore) of dividend income belonging to Indian oil firms is stuck in Russia after the Putin administration clamped down on dollar repatriation, officials said on Friday. Indian state oil firms have invested $5.46 billion in buying stakes in four different assets in Russia. These include a 49.9 per cent stake in Vankorneft oil and gas field and another 29.9 per cent in TAAS-Yuryakh Neftegazodobycha fields.
Indian Oil Corporation (IOC), the nation's largest oil firm, has renewed a deal to buy up to 2 million tonnes of crude oil in 2022 from Russia's Rosneft, the Russian oil producer said. IOC had in February 2020 signed a deal with Rosneft Oil Company to import up to 2 million tonnes of oil via the port of Novorossiysk. In 2021, the deal envisaged supply of up to 1.7 million tonnes of crude oil but IOC bought just on parcel or shipload as the cost of transporting the oil made it uneconomical, when compared to alternatives. For 2022, the deal is for the supply of up to 2 million tonnes of oil from the Black Sea port of Novorossiysk.
India on Tuesday pitched for a stake in vast oil and gas fields as well as LNG terminals in the frozen Artic of Far East Russia as it looked to import more oil from the former Soviet republic as part of a strategy to diversify its energy basket.
The move is expected to bolster India's energy security.
Pharma shares extended losses after the government's ban on combination drugs.
Investors will remain cautious ahead of F&O expiry.