MOSCOW, Dec. 14 (UPI) -- Russian energy company Gazprom is seeking a partnership with state-owned Oil India Ltd. on two natural gas projects in India, a Gazprom official said.
Alexander Nikiforov, Gazprom's head of Indian operations, said Oil India and Gazprom were looking at an onshore and an offshore gas project in India, the Platts news service reports.
"Seismic work has been done on the offshore block and gas has been found but it needs more work to determine if it's commercial," he was quoted as saying.
Gazprom in October said it was examining a role alongside India in the multilateral Turkmenistan-Afghanistan-India gas pipeline.
TAPI is a Western-backed rival to an Iranian pipeline from the South Pars gas field in the Persian Gulf. The pipeline would move natural gas from the Dauletabad field in Turkmenistan, which holds more than 40 trillion cubic feet of gas.
Gazprom, according to Russian energy czar and Deputy Prime Minister Igor Sechin, is interested in joining TAPI as a rival to the Iranian gas pipeline.
