MOSCOW (MCR) -- Saudi Aramco is considering proposals to buy stakes in Indian oil refining and petrochemical projects, India's oil minister Dharmendra Pradhan said on Monday, as the world's biggest oil exporter seeks outlets for its oil, reported Hydrocarbonprocessing.
India, the world's third-biggest oil consumer, imports almost 80% of its crude requirements, mostly from Middle East nations. In the first quarter, Saudi Arabia was India's biggest exporter of oil, sending about 889,000 bpd to the country, or about 21% of the total.
Pradhan earlier this month met with Saudi Aramco chairman Khalid al-Falih and sought Saudi investment in a planned 1.2-MMbpd refinery on India's west coast, the expansion of the Bina refinery and a petrochemical plant at Dahej, he said today.
"All the three we have offered to Saudi. The two sides will decide on the proposals in a time bound manner," Pradhan told Reuters, meaning there are deadlines for reaching investment decisions.
Three Indian state refiners - Indian Oil, Hindustan Petroleum and Bharat Petroleum - plan to build the 1.2-MMbpd refinery on the country's west coast at a cost of more than 1 trillion rupees (USD15.02 billion) to meet the country's growing fuel demand.
Bharat Oman Refineries is expanding the capacity of the Bina refinery in Central India by 30% to 156,000 bpd, while OPAL - majority owned by Oil and Natural Gas Ltd. - is building a petrochemical plant in Western Gujarat state.
Saudi Aramco CEO Amin Nasser last month said his company will is looking to expand its downstream investments in China, Malaysia, India, Vietnam and Indonesia.
As MRC reported earlier, in 2014, Saudi Aramco announced that its downstream investments would exceed USD100 billion over the next decade, as global demand for oil rises by a quarter in the next 25 years.
Saudi Aramco, officially the Saudi Arabian Oil Company, is a Saudi Arabian national oil and natural gas company based in Dhahran, Saudi Arabia. Saudi Aramco's value has been estimated at up to USD10 trillion in the Financial Times, making it the world's most valuable company. Saudi Aramco has both the largest proven crude oil reserves, at more than 260 billion barrels, and largest daily oil production.
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