India, UAE discuss ways to bolster ties in oil and gas sector

<p>
India and the UAE discussed ways to strengthen energy cooperation on Wednesday, oil minister Dharmendra Pradhan said.</p>
<p>
The virtual meeting between Pradhan and his UAE counterpart took place at a time when India is looking at diversifying its sources of oil imports as the Gulf cartel has jacked up prices.</p>
<p>
“We discussed about new areas of cooperation in the hydrocarbon sector and beyond, and agreed to remain committed despite the challenges presented by the Covid pandemic,” Pradhan said on Twitter after a virtual meeting with Sultan Al Jaber, the chief executive of Abu Dhabi National Oil Co (ADNOC).</p>
<p>
ADNOC is a partner in an Indian joint venture with Indian Oil, Bharat Petroleum and Hindustan Petroleum that plans to build a 1.2 million barrels per day (bpd) refinery and petrochemical complex on the Maharashtra coast.</p>
<p>
Pradhan said he also discussed with Jaber ways of strengthening and “providing momentum to the bilateral strategic energy partnership” between the two countries. UAE is one of the biggest oil suppliers to India. ADNOC has also leased a part of it India’s storage space for keeping strategic petroleum reserves in Mangalore.</p>
<p>
India imports more than 80% of its oil needs, a large chunk of which is sourced from the Middle East and has been hit hard by rising oil prices. Pradhan has repeatedly called on OPEC+ to ease supply curbs and has blamed Saudi Arabia-led production cuts for the sharp rise in global oil prices.</p>
<p>
Indian oil companies, however, are now gradually reducing oil imports from the Middle East and diversifying supplies from the other countries such as the US. The step was taken after the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries and its allies, known as OPEC+, decided to extend production cuts into April.</p>