Arabian Business, Tuesday, August 18, 2015
UAE open to
meeting Indian oil demand, says economy minister
The United Arab Emirates is
open to meeting any demand for oil from India, the Gulf OPEC member's economy
minister Sultan bin Saeed Al Mansouri told Reuters on Monday.
Mansouri was speaking after meeting with Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi,
who is in the UAE on a two-day visit.
"India is importing oil now and the UAE is open to meet demand for any oil from
India," Mansouri said, adding that the issue would be discussed further by
representatives of the two sides. Abu Dhabi currently provides 9 percent of
India's energy needs and India is the world's fourth biggest oil consumer.
Mansouri said Modi presented proposals for investments in India worth $1
trillion.
"The UAE can focus on certain areas such as infrastructure, railways, medical,
tourism, real estate," Mansouri said, adding that the tourism sector had huge
untapped potential but needed rules and regulations to develop it.
The Abu Dhabi Investment Authority, one of the world's largest sovereign wealth
funds, is already an investor in India and further investment will depend on
what India provides, Mansouri added.
Modi said he would send India's minister of commerce to the UAE shortly to
discuss investment, the UAE minister said.
"There's a new momentum in the relationship between the two countries in
different areas, mainly economic and investments," Mansouri said. "We are
addressing some challenges of the past and creating a new vision for India-UAE
in the future."
India is in talks to lease part of its planned strategic oil storage facilities
to Abu Dhabi's state oil company ADNOC, Indian government sources said last
year. India imports about 80 percent of its oil needs and is building emergency
storage capacity to hedge against energy security risks.
A UAE industry source said this week that negotiations between ADNOC and India
were continuing but no final agreement had been reached yet.