Yesterday, India (Conacona city) hosted the second meeting of the Joint Working Group for the cooperation between Gazprom and ONGC Group. The Gazprom’s delegation was chaired by Alexander Medvedev, Deputy Chairman of the Gazprom Management Committee.

Within the second meeting of the Joint Working Group the parties acknowledged the necessity to develop long-term cooperation in the energy sector between Gazprom and ONGC Group.

The meeting also examined issues in regard to joint participation in exploration and development of oil and gas fields in India (particularly, the New Exploration Licensing Policy of India (NELP- VII Program), Russia and third countries as well as the cooperation in the LNG and energy sectors.

Summing up the meeting results the parties made a decision to prolong the Memorandum of understanding between the companies.

The next meeting of the Joint Working Group is planned to be held in July 2007.

Reference:

Indian Oil & Gas Corporation (ONGC Group) is the largest state company in India according to the proved reserves and hydrocarbon production. The ONGC Group’s main business activity is oil & gas field exploration, development and production. The Government holds 84% stake in the company.

The Memorandum of understanding between Gazprom and ONGC Group was signed on February 21, 2005 in Moscow. The document stipulates the cooperation in the following sectors:

• creation of capacities for deep processing of natural gas, petroleum and other hydrocarbons in Russia, India and third countries;
• providing deliveries of produced petroleum and petrochemical products to the markets of Asia-Pacific and South Asia countries, first of all to India;
• design, construction and operation of gas mains and underground gas storage systems;
• development of scientific and technical cooperation in the main sectors of the gas industry;
• cooperation in the staff training, professional skills improvement and retraining sector.

The parties set up a Joint Working Group for the Memorandum execution.

The first meeting of the Joint Working Group was held in April 2006.