Tuesday, September 28, 2010

India and Kuwait to Enhance Cooperation in Oil Sector

Kuwaiti to Consider Investment in Petrochemicals and Crude Oil Storage Facilities
Shri Mulri Deora, Minister of Petroleum & Natural Gas, and his counterpart from Kuwait Mr Sheikh Ahamad Abdullah Al-Ahmad Al-Sabah emphasized enhancing cooperation between the two countries in a meeting here today. Stating that India would like to further strengthen relationship with Kuwait, Shri Deora said that there are several areas where the two countries can work together in the oil and gas sector. These include long term arrangement of crude oil supply from Kuwait to India and mutual investments in various areas of hydrocarbon sector.

One of the important issues discussed was possible investment of Kuwait in the oil and gas sector particularly in petrochemical complexes and building of crude oil storage hub in India. Indian side invited participation of Kuwait in the E&P opportunities in India with the launch of ninth round of exploration blocks under new exploration licensing policy (NELP-IX) which India is launching soon. The talks also focused on participation of the companies of two companies together in E&P opportunities in third countries. India offered consultancy services of Engineers India Limited, a premier engineering and consultancy firm in the oil and gas sector. The cooperation in providing training facilities and building R&D facilities both in upstream and downstream sector were also deliberated. The two sides further discussed the offer of ONGC-TERI for bioremediation in Kuwait to clean up the soils affected by oil spills.

The bilateral meeting was also attended by Shri Sudhir Bhargava, Addl Secretary and other senior officers of the Ministry of Petroleum & Natural Gas and oil PSUs CEOs from India. Kuwaiti delegation included Mr. Hussain Esmaiel, President, KPI and Mr. Yusuef Al-Qabandi, Deputy MD (International Marketing), Kuwait Petroleum Corporation among other senior officers and executives.

Earlier visiting Minister called on the Vice President Mohammed Hamid Ansari and Prime Minister Dr Manmohan Singh. He also met Minister of Information & Broadcasting Mrs Ambika Soni. The Kuwaiti delegation had detailed discussions with the top executives of Indian Oil and ONGC separately over last two days.

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