Iran overtook political rival Saudi Arabia as India's top oil supplier in October, shipping data showed, just ahead of a producers' meeting this month to hammer out the details on output cuts aimed at reining in a global glut.

The deal between Essar and a consortium led by Kremlin oil giant Rosneft (ROSN.MM) appeared dead in the water two months ago after Saudi state energy firm Aramco weighed in, according to seven Russia, India and Saudi-based industry sources familiar with or involved in the negotiations.

For the April-September period, India’s LNG imports were 12.7bn m³, up almost by 27% on year.

ROSATOM - "Historically, India is one of our key foreign partners. Two power units of Russian design are already operating on the Kudankulam NPP site and two more are under construction. To increase the state corporation's market presence, it was decided to open a regional center in Mumbai. This will enable us to join forces with our Indian partners and enhance the performance of Russian nuclear enterprises operating in India," said Aleksey Pimenov, the Regional President of Rosatom South Asia.

Rosneft will get 49% and the two investors -- Trafigura and UCP -- will hold the remaining 49% in equal parts, the sources said, adding that the valuation included about $4.5 B in assumed debt.

Attracting strategic investors will give additional momentum to the development of Srednebotuobinskoye field, one of the largest oil and gas condensate fields in East Siberia, currently producing about 22 thousand barrels of oil per day. Partners within the joint project plan to create the infrastructure for further exploration and development of the reserves in the region.

The closed transaction is a symbolic one for the companies and marks the transition to a new level of cooperation in the Russian-Indian relations in the energy area. Indian companies obtain substantial interest in one of the biggest large-scale projects of Rosneft of the last decade, whereas Rosneft retains 61.1% shares in the project.

The deal, worth about $2.02 billion, was approved by the cabinet Wednesday, said an official, who didn’t wish to be named. The cabinet also approved another deal worth $1.24 billion reached by the three companies earlier this year to acquire a 29.9% stake in Russia’s Taas-Yuryakh oil field.

The cost of importing LNG has dropped sharply this year after New Delhi signed a revised long term contract with Doha. Qatar is the largest supplier of LNG to India. Given the backdrop of low global LNG prices, Petronet LNG insisted on renegotiating its long term contract with RasGas.

India, seeking to hedge against energy security risks as it imports about 80 percent of its oil needs, is building emergency storage in vast underground caverns to hold a total of 36.87 million barrels of crude, enough to cover almost two weeks of demand.