Saudi Aramco considers buying stake in Indian refineries

New Delhi, Feb 25: Saudi state-run oil giant Aramco is looking to buy stake in existing Indian refineries and in their capacity expansion, as well as in the proposed petrochemicals refinery on India’s west coast, Saudi Arabian Energy Minister Khalid bin Abdulaziz al-Falih said on Saturday. Speaking to reporters here during his ongoing official visit to India, Al-Falih said Aramco had already signed an agreement to initiate talks for acquiring stake in the proposed Rs 1.8 lakh crore refinery in Maharashtra. “Aramco is also looking at other opportunities to buy into existing refineries in India as well as upgrades of existing refineries. So, there are at least three different tracks which I cannot reveal more specifics,” said the Saudi Minister, who also looks after the industry and mineral resources portfolios.

“Agreements have been already signed that allows discussions to start on the configuration of the (west coast) refinery, on design basis and pre-feasibility studies,” he said.

“One is the greenfield west coast refinery, which is already public, but there are discussions with expansions as well as buying stake into major existing refinery assets. All of these are illustrated commitments by the Kingdom and the company to be not only a supplier, but an investor in India at an unmatched scale,” he added. (IANS)