March 18, 2006	Saturday	Safar 17, 1427

NEW DELHI, March 17: India aims to buy at least one million barrels per day (bpd) of Russian crude oil within five years, Prime Manmohan Manmohan Singh said on Friday. India imports about two million bpd of crude oil, mainly from the Middle East and Nigeria and occasionally buys very small volumes from Russia.

“Russia is also our strategic partner in the energy sector,” Mr Singh said during talks with Russian Prime Minister Mikhail Fradkov in New Delhi, according to a government statement.

“Our objective is to lift at least 1 million barrels per day from Russia in the next five years as the necessary infrastructure is built at both ends,” Singh said.

He also said India was keen to buy liquefied natural gas (LNG) from Russia and join hands with Moscow in the pipelines sector.

Separately, Indian Oil Corp said it had signed a memorandum of understanding with Russia’s Stroytransgaz to team up on pipeline projects.—Reuters