Saudi Aramco eager to invest in India
State-owned Saudi Arabian Oil Company (Aramco) has expressed interest to invest in the rapidly growing Indian fuel retailing market, said India’s Minister of State for Petroleum and Natural Gas Dharmendra Pradhan in an interview with The Economic Times.
Pradhan added that the two countries would seek ways to boost India’s investments in Saudi Arabia’s exploration and production sector as well as attract Saudi companies to invest in India.
More foreign oil firms are also welcome to enter in the country’s domestic market as this will raise the competence of local companies and improve product quality.
French oil company Total and BP, reported International Business Times, are considering to expand in the country’s retail market dominated by government-run oil firms such as Indian Oil Corp, Bharat Petroleum Corp, and Hindustan Petroleum Corp with competition coming from private local players such as Reliance Industries and Essar Oil and the only international player, Shell.
India, currently the world’s fourth largest oil consumer, has more than 50,000 fuel stations and posted 11% growth in domestic fuel demand in 2015-2016.
