With China’s economy on the backburner, and its oil fields on the US sanctions list, Russia is all set to sell its oil to India, a report in OilPrice.com has said.

The decision got the breath of life in December 2014 when Prime Minister Narendra Modi met with Russian President Vladamir Putin with oil, hydrocarbons, nuclear energy and defence sectors in focus, soon translated into a bilateral trade agreement with a target of $30 billion by 2025, and oil deals from Russia with Indian oil suppliers.

At the December summit, India-Russia’s bilateral trade was pegged at a target of $30 billion by 2025. The CII had said that it was convinced that the two countries will be able to achieve the target.

“The Druzhba-Dosti joint statement of President Putin and Prime Minister Modi in December 2014 sets the stage for expansion of the bilateral economic engagement in many dimensions, including trade, investment, defence, and energy,” President CII Sumit Mazumder said.

According to the OilPrice report, China’s deals with Russia have often met with dead-ends, and with the world’s second largest economy’s growth slowing, trade between the two countries has fallen.

According to the report, China and Russia had made a gas deal in May 2014, which included the construction of two pipelines to transport Russia’s gas to China. The deal was suspended in July, leaving Russia in the lurch.

China’s stock market rout and slowing growth has every huge investor on the sidelines, trying to take stock of the situation.

The report states that Russia’s exports to China were down 20% compared to last year, while China only invested under $1.6 billion into Russia in 2014, when Russia invested a whopping $151.5 billion during the same year into the Chinese economy.

Russia’s Rosneft buys nearly 50% in Essar Oil

On July 9, Russia’s Rosneft signed a deal to buy 50% stake in Essar Oil for for about $3.2 billion after excluding the Mumbai-based firm’s flourishing coal-bed methane (CBM) business.

Last year, Rosneft had signed an initial deal to supply 10 million tonnes a year or 200,000 barrels per day (bpd) of oil to Essar Group over 10-years.

Rosneft, the world’s top listed oil producer, will get a hold in India’s second biggest oil refinery as well as its 1,600 petrol pumps that will more than triple to 5,000 in two years.

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According to the deal, the Russian firm will also supply 10 million tonnes a year of crude to Essar Oil’s 20 million tonnes per annum Vadinar refinery in Gujarat for 10 years.

“Rosneft and Essar Oil & Gas Ltd/ Essar Energy Holdings Ltd, companies incorporated and managed under the laws of Mauritius, have signed a non-binding Term Sheet with regard to Rosneft’s participation in the equity capital of Essar Oil Ltd with a share of up to 49%,” Essar Oil said in a statement.

On the back of the deal, Essar is likely to cut imports from Iran to accommodate Russian barrels. Essar currently depends heavily on Iran to feed its Vadinar refinery, importing about one-fourth of its oil needs from the Persian Gulf nation.

Rosneft in a statement said the crude supply agreement enables it to expand market outlet and amplifies the volume of supplies to the region, where growing points of the world’s economy are concentrated.

Apart from this, Rosneft has also sold 15% of its second biggest oil field of Vankor to ONGC for nearly 8,390.36 crore, making it the fourth largest acquisition for the for the state-owned company. The field, which has recoverable reserves of 2.5 billion barrels, will give OVL 3.3 million tonnes per annum of oil production.

Given that China’s growth is slowing, and India’s GDP is slated to grow at a faster pace, in percentage terms, according to the IMF and World Bank, Russia might just be shifting its focus to the sub-continent to keep its investment safe.