New Delhi (Sputnik) – Abu Dhabi National Oil Company (ADNOC) is considering picking up stakes of the planned Ratnagiri oil refinery in India's central state of Maharashtra. The UAE's state-owned oil firm would purchase the stakes from Saudi Aramco, which last month signed an agreement with India to buy a 50 percent stake in the joint venture. However, Aramco had clarified that it would dilute some of its 50 percent equity stake in the oil refinery project in favor of another strategic investment.
India's state-owned refiners Indian Oil Corp. (IOC), Hindustan Petroleum Corp. Ltd (HPCL) and Bharat Petroleum Corp. Ltd (BPCL) will own the remaining 50 percent stake.
"Our energy appetite is very high. Our per capita energy consumption is very modest which will increase in the coming years. … So we are inviting world energies, stakeholders to come to India and invest in India, do business in all the aspect from upstream to downstream. We're welcoming any investment to India," Pradhan, who is on a three-day visit to the Arabian nation, said at the conference.
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Earlier on Saturday, two million barrels of ADNOC crude departed from Abu Dhabi for India's strategic oil reserve at Mangalore. In February this year, Indian Strategic Petroleum Reserves Ltd (ISPRL) had signed an agreement with ADNOC under which ADNOC will store about 5.86 million barrels of crude oil at Mangalore facility at its own cost.
The ISPRL has stored around 39 million barrels of strategic crude oil at three locations in Vishakhapatnam, Mangalore and Padur, for emergency purposes. However, the agreement allows ADNOC to sell part of the crude oil to Indian refineries on a commercial basis while adhering to mutually agreed minimum crude storage, which is for the exclusive use of the Indian government. The UAE is the first country to agree to invest in India's strategic petroleum reserve facility.