India's LPG imports are expected to rebound from July onwards and is on track for a 10% annual increase in the current fiscal 2017-2018 (April-March), after plunging to the lowest in two years in June, trade sources from four oil and gas companies in India said recently.

The move fulfills a plan, first outlined in February, to create an Indian oil giant through consolidation and mergers, forming a company comparable with international rivals that could weather crude-price volatility.

India, the world's third-largest oil importer, will import crude oil from the United States for the first time after Indian Oil Corp bought a cargo that will be delivered in October.

Vietnam has extended an Indian oil concession in the South China Sea and begun drilling in another area it disputes with China in moves that could heighten tensions over who owns what in the vital maritime region.

The Indian consortium led by the state-owned Oil and Natural Gas Corporation (ONGC) is willing to spend as much as $11bn to develop the giant Iranian natural gas field it discovered in 2008.

Creditor banks to India's Essar Oil approved the acquisition of the company by a group including Russia's Rosneft, two sources familiar with the matter said, removing a key hurdle to the $12.9 billion deal that has been in the works for two years.

BP and RIL partnered in 2011 when BP acquired 30% interest in multiple oil and gas blocks in India operated by RIL, including the producing Block KGD6. RIL currently operates KGD6 with 60% interest, while BP still holds 30% and Niko Resources Ltd. has the remaining 10%.

«Мы имеем возможность взаимодействовать со странами и компаниями азиатско-тихоокеанского региона и будем развивать наше сотрудничество в сфере энергетики», - сообщил глава Минэнерго России. Министр особо подчеркнул заинтересованность России в расширении взаимодействия с Индией в сфере поставок энергоресурсов: «Индия для нас является стратегическим партнером. Мы уже начали поставлять туда нефть, ведем переговоры по прокладке газопровода».

As a major buyer of OPEC crude, India is hoping to leverage its ties with the oil producer bloc to gain "preferential treatment," the country's petroleum minister Dharmendra Pradhan told.

“India is very price sensitive. I need to ask how do I serve my citizens best. We are free to import oil from any part of the world . . . from the US and Canada, as well as more supplies from Russia.”