India offers partnership in Aramco refinery project

03-Mar-10

India has offered a 10% stake in Saudi Aramco’s giant refinery project in Eurasia, adding that the refinery with its strategic reserves of Saudi oil would be “of importance to us as the oil can be sold from there”, as per the Indian Minister of Petroleum and Gas The minister urged Saudi investors to enter into partnerships in India. Discussions with Saudi Aramco are underway and aims to open other areas of bilateral cooperation. The Indian Minister of Petroleum and Gas has said that the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia is “committed to supplying India’s needs in petroleum”, and that India is seeking to extend cooperation in the field to include hydrocarbonic industries, petrochemicals and refineries. India imports over 20% of its oil needs from Saudi Arabia, with half a million barrels of oil supplied daily. Indian demand for oil is expected to triple by 2030 making the country the third largest oil importer in the world.