Formal talks likely between ONGC Petro Additions Ltd and Saudi Aramco for collaboration

21-Apr-17

ONGC Petro additions Ltd (OPaL) is seeking to sell 50% stake in its US$4.6 bln facility, likely to Saudi Aramco, as per sources in livemint.com, after talks with a unit of Kuwait Petroleum Corp. about investing in the project stalled last year.
Oil & Natural Gas Corp. (ONGC), which owns the biggest stake in OPaL, entered into a preliminary cooperation agreement in January 2014 with Petrochemical Industries Co., a subsidiary of state-owned Kuwait Petroleum. Talks between OPaL and PIC about the Kuwaiti company investing in the Indian project stalled last year, according to the people. OPaL hosted a team from Saudi Aramco at its plant in Gujarat last month, they said.

Saudi Aramco, which is the biggest supplier of crude oil to India, has shown interest in a proposed 60 million tonnes-a-year refinery and petrochemicals project being planned by Indian state refiners on the nation’s west coast, oil minister Dharmendra Pradhan said on 30 March.