ONGC hopes its Sakhalin-1 stake will not be affected by Russian takeover

By Nidhi Verma

NEW DELHI (Reuters) - India's Oil and Natural Gas Corp hopes that Russia's take over of Sakhalin-1 oil and gas project by will not impact its stake in the asset as New Delhi has strong ties with Moscow, its chairperson said on Thursday.

A senior Russian lawmaker said on Thursday that Moscow would take control of the Sakhalin-1 oil and gas project in which ExxonMobil, Japan's SODECO and India's ONGC Videsh are partners, a week after taking over the neighbouring Sakhalin-2.

"I hope it would not impact us ... our relation is too strong and it has been for too long," Alka Mittal told Reuters.

ONGC Videsh, the overseas investment arm of state-run ONGC, has a 20% stake in the project.

(Reporting by Nidhi Verma. Editing by Jane Merriman)