India Plans to Step up Oil, Gas Investment in Africa

Posted on : Tuesday , 23rd December 2014

NEW DELHI -- India's state-run businesses are seeking to acquire stakes in oil and gas blocks in Africa, form joint ventures in the continent and supply organic gas to meet increasing fuel demand at property, Indian Oil Minister S. Jaipal Reddy mentioned...

Today as considerably as 21.five% of India's crude oil imports are from Africa. In the years ahead, we seek far more crude oil and liquefied organic gas from Africa," Mr. Reddy stated at a conference.Africa is regarded to have excellent hydrocarbon potential, with significant oil production coming from West Africa, and new promising gas discoveries in East Africa. Countries like China have already invested heavily in the region to develop its resources.

India, which faces a enormous energy deficit and imports about 80% of its crude oil specifications, is scouting for hydrocarbon assets that can increase its power safety in the extended term.

"Our companies are also interested in farm-in possibilities in producing blocks, in particular in Libya, Algeria, Egypt and Nigeria," Mr. Reddy said. He added that firms like GAIL (India) Ltd., Petronet LNG Ltd. and Indian Oil Corp. are interested in sourcing all-natural gas on a lengthy-term basis from Africa. He stated the corporations would "explore possibilities of equity participation" in natural gas export projects, gas processing corporations and gas-based petrochemical projects in Africa.

"There is no ceiling on imports from Africa. We are attempting to maximize our [oil supply] sources in Africa," Mr. Reddy said.

He didn't specify which projects Indian oil providers had been eyeing, how substantially they would invest and where the dollars would come from. He stated that "with Africa's economic improvement selecting up momentum and its energy demands increasing, India is keen to grow to be a dependable supplier of petroleum merchandise to Africa."

Mr. Reddy also mentioned that India's crude oil imports from Iran stay on schedule and aren't facing any bottlenecks.

Trade settlement among the two countries was hit after India's central bank barred Iran-connected payments from being processed via the Asian Clearing Union, a regional clearinghouse which the U.S. says is opaque and could be applied by Tehran to finance its alleged nuclear-weapons program.

"The government of Iran is eager to enable us in supplying oil in spite of quite a few disturbing developments at the international level. Payment concerns are becoming settled," Mr. Reddy mentioned.