UAE may invest in petrochemical projects, store oil in India

Betting big on rising oil demand in the world′s third largest energy consumer, UAE said it is looking at investing more in refining and petrochemical projects as well as stocking more crude in India. UAE′s Abu Dhabi National Oil Co (ADNOC) and its partner Saudi Aramco have jointly taken a 50 per cent stake in the planned $44 billion refinery-cum-petrochemical complex at Ratnagiri in Maharashtra. It has hired space at the underground strategic oil storages built at Mangalore and Padur in Karnataka. Sultan Ahmed Al Jaber, Minister of State in the United Arab Emirates and CEO of the ADNOC, said: “We are looking at expanding investment portfolio in the downstream sectors (particularly) oil refining and petrochemicals.” UAE, he said, is looking to go beyond merely selling crude oil to India and wants to develop a strategic partnership. UAE is looking to expand its cooperation with India and it will look at enhancing avenues of cooperation. He said UAE is also looking at storing more crude oil in Indian storages. "India is very high on our strategic agenda and expanding our strategic reserve in India will be an item on the agenda to be discussed with our friends and counterparts in India.”