Moscow, Saturday, December 17, 2011: Russian President Dmitry Medvedev had said that his country will significantly boost the supplies of Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG) to energy hungry India beginning from 2016.

Addressing the CEOs forum of the top companies of the two countries, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh said that Indian companies were interested in oil and gas projects in Russia. India’s gas consumption is projected to increase 70 per cent by 2020.

Mentioning the success of ONGC Videsh Ltd (OVL) venture in Sakhalin-1 offshore oil block, Medvedev also expressed Russia’s interest in expanding cooperation with India in hydrocarbons, Foreign Secretary Ranjan Mathai told reporters.

OVL has 20 per cent stake in Sakhalin-1, which has estimated reserves of about 307 million tons of oil (2.3 billion barrels) and 485 billion cubic meters of gas (17 trillion cubic feet).

Medvedev said that Russian natural gas monopoly Gazprom has inked the memoranda covering major supplies of LNG to India with several Indian companies. Gazprom CEO Alexei Miller last month said the company would take India’s growing demand for LNG into account in its plans to build export facilities under the Eastern Gas Programme.

(News agency)