By Sethuraman N R
NEW DELHI (Reuters) – Norwegian oil and gas producer Equinor will proceed with the development of its Rosebank oil and gas field, the company’s UK manager said on Wednesday on the sidelines of an energy conference in New Delhi.
Equinor and its partner Ithaca Energy want to develop the Rosebank oil and gas field, but the plans for one of Britain’s last known major oil reservoirs has been a lightning rod for climate activists calling for a halt to fossil fuel production.
“We’ll have to apply and make sure we have all the permits to make sure we can legally develop it,” said Alex Grant, at the India Energy Week conference. “But we will push forward with it.” British Prime Minister Keir Starmer has indicated that his government will not issue new exploration licences but it has said it will not revoke existing ones. “We are confident we’ll get that to first production,” Grant said.
Equinor is also looking to supply more Liquified Natural Gas (LNG) to India via long-term contracts.
“The strategy to increase our volume coming towards Asia Pacific is quite strong…(We are) actively engaging with quite a few players for long term supplies to India,” said Desikan Sundararajan, Equinor’s managing director for India.
India is currently the fourth-largest LNG importer and aims to raise the share of gas in the country’s energy mix to 15% by 2030 from 6.2% currently.
Equinor last year signed a 15-year LNG deal with India’s Deepak Fertilisers, with the Norweigan company supplying Asia and India from its own fields and market purchases.
Sundararajan said Equinor has also discussed potentially participating in India’s strategic petroleum reserves.
Last year, ONGC Videsh, the overseas investment arm of India’s top explorer, signed a $60 million deal with Equinor to raise its stake in the offshore Azeri Chirag Gunashil oil field in the Caspian sea and linked pipeline.
(Reporting by Sethuraman N R; editing by Mayank Bhardwaj, Kirsten Donovan)
