Russia-India oil tie-up threatens Middle East crude market
New Delhi/Mumbai — A $13bn deal involving Russia in India threatens to weaken the grip of Middle East crude suppliers in the world’s fastest-growing oil market. Rosneft is part of a group of investors that beat suitors from Saudi Arabia and Iran to buy Essar Oil’s Vadinar refinery, India’s second-biggest, in a deal announced at the weekend. Russia’s largest oil producer is following a strategy by resource-rich firms and nations to secure outlets for their output, and may supply the facility with Venezuela crude and challenge Middle East exporters that provide about two-thirds of the country’s imports. "India will be the most important product-growth market over the next 25 years, making it important to Russia," according to Neil Beveridge, a Sanford C Bernstein & Company analyst. With the deal, Rosneft is targeting a market of 1.3-billion people that imports more than 80% of its crude requirements and which is forecast to be the world’s fastest-growing oil-consuming nation until 204...
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