Arnab Dasgupta asked: What are the prospects of cooperation between India and China on securing equity oil abroad?

Shebonti Ray Dadwal replies:

Joint Holdings of Chinese and Indian Firms in Foreign Oil/Gas Blocks and Equity Assets in Oil Firms

In December 2005, oil companies from the two countries teamed up for the first time to purchase 37 per cent of oil assets in Syria that belonged to the Canadian Oil Co. at a cost of $573 million. ONGC is also working with China Petroleum and Chemical Corp in Iran to exploit the Yadavaran oil field, in which China holds 50 per cent and India holds about 30 per cent in shares. In August 2006, China and India worked again to buy 50 per cent of the shares of an oil field in Colombia. (See table above).

On February 22, 2005, GAIL signed an agreement with China that India would invest $243 million in China Gas Co. It became the first-ever cooperation between listed companies of the two countries. In January 2006, former Indian Petroleum Minister Mani Shankar Aiyar led an Indian natural gas delegation to China, during which five agreements were signed. Also, the multilateral dialogue on energy has become a stage for Sino-Indian cooperation.