Russian oil major Rosneft has signed a preliminary agreement with the Essar group, controlled by the Ruias, to buy a 49 per cent stake in Essar Oil’s Vadinar refinery and supply 100 million tonnes of oil to the latter for the next 10 years. Refining accounts for over 95 per cent of Essar Oil’s overall business. The deal is subject to regulatory approvals. According to the deal contours, Rosneft will supply five million tonnes of crude oil to Essar Oil in 2015. Rosneft and Essar Oil had last December signed a preliminary contract for supply of 10 million tonnes of oil a year for 10 years. Commenting on the signing of the agreement, Rosneft Chairman Igor Sechin said: “The performance of the terms of the signed documents will have a substantial impact on the scale of economic cooperation between Russia and India. The goods trade between the two countries will grow by more than 50 per cent.”( Business Standard/India Digest)…[+]