India and Saudi Arabia have agreed to accelerate Indian state-controlled refiner IOC's 1.2mn b/d West Coast Refinery project.
India and Saudi Arabia issued a joint statement during the visit of Saudi crown prince Mohammad bin Salman to India last week, following his meeting with Indian prime minister Narendra Modi. The deal was followed by the first meeting of the India-Saudi Arabia Strategic Partnership Council.
"Both the prime minister and the crown prince extended their full support to the early implementation of the West Coast Refinery project, for which funds to the tune of $50bn are already earmarked," ministry of external affairs secretary Ausaf Sayeed said in a press briefing on 11 September.
IOC's plans for a 1.2mn b/d refinery at Ratnagiri in west India's Maharashtra state remain complicated by land acquisition problems. State-controlled Saudi Aramco and Abu Dhabi's state-owned Adnoc are partners in the project.
The two sides also agreed to set up a joint task force to help in identifying and channelling $100bn of investment from Saudi Arabia and for a monitoring committee to ensure progress on the refinery project, Sayeed added.
The two sides also agreed to develop joint projects to transform oil into petrochemicals in the two countries but did not add further details.
The joint statement included a number of discussed issues, including an initial agreement on 10 September to co-operate on several new energy and fossil fuel-related sectors. India and Saudi Arabia agreed to diversify their hydrocarbon trade into a comprehensive energy partnership, Sayeed said.
The two countries will co-operate in the areas of renewable energy, energy efficiency, hydrogen, carbon capture, utilization and storage and electricity grid interconnection, according to the Indian government. The two countries will also work together on oil, natural gas, a strategic petroleum reserve (SPR) and energy security. Several major global oil and commodity trading firms have expressed interest in building India's new SPR, the government told the lower house of parliament on 3 August. The government has earmarked 50bn rupees ($600mn) in its budget for the April 2023-March 2024 fiscal year to rebuild the country's SPR.
The collaboration, for which a timeline is not yet available, will also involve qualitative partnerships between India and Saudi Arabia to localize materials, products and services related to all energy sectors, supply chains and technology, the government said without providing further details.
Leaders of the US, India, Saudi Arabia, the UAE and the EU also agreed at the G20 Leaders' Summit held in Delhi across 9-10 September to work together to establish a multinational rail and shipping corridor connecting south Asia to the Middle East and Europe. A possible timeline for the project was unavailable.
