Kuwait Petroleum Corporation keen to invest in Indian oil projects
06 Dec 2007
The national oil company of Kuwait, Kuwait Petroleum Corporation (KPC), is keen to participate in setting up grass root projects in India in the oil and gas sector. This was conveyed by Saad A Al Shuwaib, director and chief executive officer of the Kuwaiti oil company in a meeting with minister of petroleum and natural gas Murli Deora in New Delhi today.
Saad said that KPC was exploring opportunities in the refinery and petrochemical activities and that Kuwait was committed to developing present business relationship into partnerships in India.
Deora stressed that this was one of the best times for foreign companies to invest in Indian oil and gas sector projects as in most of the hydrocarbon activities 100-per cent foreign direct investment is allowed including in refineries, upstream activities etc.
He pointed out that three grass root projects were being implemented by Indian national oil companies like Indian Oil Corporation at Paradip in Orissa, by Bharat Petroleum in Bina in Madhya Pradesh, and Hindustan Petroleum at Bhatinda in Punjab.
The Bina and Bhatinda projects are being implemented as joint venture projects with Oman Oil Company and global steel major, Mittal Investments, respectively. Moreover, other projects for setting up refinery and petrochemical complexes by Indian Oil at Panipat, by ONGC at Mangalore and Kakinada, and HPCL at Vishakhapatnam.
The Indian side is believed to have pointed out that promoting refinery projects in India was very competitive as capital costs in India were low and project consultancy by public sector technology company Engineers India Ltd was of high quality and at competitive cost.
India suggested that the Kuwaiti company could also join Indian public sector oil companies in bidding for upcoming offer of exploration blocks under NELP-VII.
The two sides re-iterated their time tested and long-standing friendly relations. Kuwait is a major crude oil supplier to India and supplied about 11 million metric tones during 2006-07.
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