India and Russia will work together to exploit opportunities from the emerging Northern Sea Route (NSR) and other maritime corridors from Russia’s Far East, the Indian government said.
India has been the biggest swing buyer of Russian crude since the invasion of Ukraine and the agreement struck between ministers in Vladivostok this week opens up the prospects of further increases in trade.
The agreement includes simulator training in Vladivostok for Indian seafarers to improve their skills of navigating treacherous Arctic waters.
Global warming has turned the NSR into a strategic opportunity for Russia, which plans to increase energy shipments eastwards by more than 250% to 130m tonnes by 2035.
With the European Union banning imports of its oil, Russia has looked to Asia to take its barrels and sees the NSR as an opportunity to cut voyage times. TradeWinds reported this week that Russia was sending two non-ice class tankers through the NSR for the first time.
The two governments said they were also looking to develop the maritime route between Vladivostok and Chennai on India’s east coast to transport oil, coal and LNG.
The voyage from Chennai to Vladivostok would take 12 days, compared to 32 from Mumbai to St Petersburg via the Suez Canal, wrote Dr Sinderpal Singh, a defence and security analyst at Nanyang Technological University in Singapore, in a commentary last month.
The deal follows a meeting between Sarbananda Sonowal, India’s ports and shipping minister, and Aleksey Chekunkov, the Russian minister responsible for developing Russia’s Arctic and Far Eastern regions, on Wednesday in Vladivostok.
“India is keen to collaborate a partnership regarding the development of the Northern Sea Route, recognising the potential it holds for enhanced connectivity and trade,” Sonowal said in a statement.
“The NSR is a global transport project. Its development can provide economic benefits to both Russia and non-regional states.”
Analysts said India would benefit from the deal by improving ties with Russia to reduce Moscow’s reliance on India’s regional rival, China. Russia’s oil shipments via the NSR this year have been delivered to eastern Chinese ports.
India also sees the maritime routes as part of its own strategy to modernise its ports.
Chekunkov said: “We intend to develop relations with Indian partners in the Far East in all areas of mutual interest.”
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