April 16, 2018 [The National] - Saudi Aramco, the world’s biggest oil producer, has signed an agreement to develop with a consortium of Indian refiners a $44 billion integrated refining and petrochemical complex as it looks to secure its market share in India.
The planned integrated complex at Ratnagiri in Maharashtra state on the west coast will have refining and petrochemical capacities of 1.2 million barrels of crude and around 18m tonnes per year of petrochemical products respectively, Aramco said in a statement on Wednesday.
“Investing in India is a key part of our company’s global downstream strategy and another milestone in our growing relationship with India,” said Aramco president and chief executive Amin Nasser.
“Participating in this mega project will allow Saudi Aramco to go beyond our crude oil supplier role to a fully integrated position that may help usher in other areas of collaboration, such as refining, marketing and petrochemicals for India’s future energy demands.”
India is the world’s third-biggest consumer of crude after the US and China, accounting for four per cent of world consumption in 2015, according to the US Energy Information Administration.
The country, which imports much of its oil from the Middle East – mainly Iraq and Saudi Arabia – is expected to see consumption grow 4.5 per cent every year for the next 25 years, Prime Minister Narendra Modi told a ministerial audience in New Delhi on Wednesday.
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