UAE invites Indian corporates to invest in oil and gas

Posted on January 27, 2017

The prominent member of OPEC, UAE (United Arab Emirates) has invited Indian corporates to invest in oil and gas in Abu Dhabi. This gives India a rare chance to be involved in the hydrocarbon sector of the oil – rich region that accounts for most of its energy imports. Abu Dhabi National Oil Co (Adnoc) chief executive officer, Sultan Ahmed Al Jaber said the strategic partnership with India had taken a quantum leap with the pact to store crude oil in India’s strategic reserves and that a lot more was in the offing, including his company’s investment in new and existing refineries and petrochemical plants. Read more on Investments

“We would also like to invite Indian oil companies to come and explore investment opportunities in Abu Dhabi in the field of upstream oil and gas as well as downstream oil and gas in refining and petrochemicals”, Jaber said.

Till date, India’s upstream investments have mostly been only in high – risk regions such as Sudan or Russia with the help of bilateral agreements. The Adnoc chief said that since India was one among the largest energy consumers in the world, maintaining good ties with India was of utmost importance to UAE.

“India sits very high on our strategic partnerships and strategic economic relationships agenda and we would do everything we can to expand that relationship and to develop new avenues for partnerships and cooperation. We are very serious about this relationship”, the Adnoc chief said.

Speaking on his own company’s investment plans in India, he said Adnoc would not like to be limited by an investment number and would seek out all opportunities, particularly in the fields of refining and petrochemicals.

“Our approach is going to be a mix of different models. Some are going to be direct investments in existing assets, some are going to be projects that we develop as Greenfield jointly from scratch, whether it’s in petrochemicals or refining. We cannot and we will not act as a passive investor, because we are not. We are here to add value and the value we bring is not only money. We bring technology, we bring access to market, we bring knowledge and expertise”, the Adnoc chief said.

The Adnoc chief also said that Adnoc had signed an agreement with Indian Strategic Petroleum Reserves Ltd to store 5.8 million oil barrels in India. “That, in our view, is a very good step in the right direction for our oil and gas engagement in India. We are very keen to strengthen that relationship and we are very serious in establishing a new avenue for cooperation of both countries in the field of oil and gas. The UAE will continue to be a reliable supplier”, the Adnoc chief added.

The Adnoc chief said that the nature of investments made by the two countries would be joint investments which would produce a win – win situation for both the countries. Both private and public oil companies in both the countries would be allowed to take part in the joint investments. Adnoc would work towards expanding India’s refining capacities and securing investments from India. Adnoc is also interested to invest in renewable energy in India (and other countries).

“Today, even though we continue to process the fifth – largest oil reserve in the world and the seventh – largest gas reserve in the world, we have proactively engaged in the advancement of renewable energy. To us, renewable energy does not represent a threat, whatsoever, to oil and gas and to our position as a true global energy player. To us it just makes perfect economic sense. In our view, the integration of renewable energy as part of our energy mix makes perfect economic sense that will prolong the life of our oil and gas resources and at the same time, it will allow us to liberate and free up some of our hydrocarbons currently being used for power generation. So this is just a logical step”, the Adnoc chief added.

Investments in hydrocarbons will enable companies (of both the countries) to invent technology that uses energy efficiently. Given the energy shortage that the world is experiencing today, this investment plan with the UAE is definitely a welcome move. Investments in renewable energy will also be crucial as the crude oil supply is expected to diminish in the next twenty years. The demand for fuel in India is expected to grow in the coming years. Hence, India will definitely benefit from increasing its refining capacity, which is expected to be part of the India – UAE investment plan. This is a good move by India and UAE which will benefit the companies of both the countries. Read more on Startup News