Saudi-India energy cooperation

India’s quest for energy security through greater cooperation with the Gulf was underlined by Prime Minister Narendra Modi yesterday, when he told Saudi Aramco’s CEO, Amin Nasser, that he appreciated the Kingdom’s "Vision 2030" document outlining a roadmap for the kingdom’s development and economy objectives for the next 14 years.

Warmly recalling his visit to Saudi Arabia last year, Modi said "many progressive decisions are being taken in the Kingdom’s energy sector." The Prime Minister said he looked forward to various opportunities for cooperation between India and Saudi Arabia in the near future, according to a release by the Indian government’s Press Information Bureau after the meeting between Modi and Nasser, who is leading a Saudi Aramco delegation to New Delhi.

Saudi Aramco yesterday launched its Indian subsidiary, Aramco Asia India, and is in talks about investing in a US$ 6.1 billion coastal refinery proposed to be built in India’s western state of Maharashtra. The refinery will be built by a consortium led by the state-owned Indian Oil Company and will have a capacity of 1.2 million barrels per day.

Nasser, along with India’s Oil Minister, Dharmendra Pradhan, yesterday inaugurated Aramaco’s first office in India in Gurgaon near Delhi. Pradhan said on the occasion that "Saudi Aramco's office in India will help in turning the existing buyer-supplier relationship between the two sides into a strategic partnership in the hydrocarbon sector."

Amin Nasser said, "India by itself is an important energy market. The size of India’s market is huge. The growth in India last year was 8 percent compared to 1.5 percent globally in energy. We need to be here."

India, the world’s third largest consumer of oil, imports nearly 80 percent of its requirements.

Modi also met Igor Sechin, head of Rosneft, Russia’s energy conglomerate, Robin Franklin, Vice President of ExxonMobil, and Bob Dudley, CEO of BP. All are in New Delhi for an Indian Energy Forum.

Nasser told the forum in his address that "by 2040, India is likely to be among the fastest growing oil markets, with demand almost doubling to about 10 million barrels per day. Meanwhile, demand for gas is expected to more than triple over the same period."