Saudi Petroleum and Mineral Resources Minister Ali Al-Naimi and his Indian counterpart Mani Shankar Aiyar met in Riyadh earlier this week to discuss bilateral trade and investment opportunities in the oil, gas and mineral sectors.
Aiyar said in Riyadh yesterday that the two countries had reached agreement in principle for Saudi Aramco to acquire equity in a Vishakapatnam refinery in Andhra Pradesh, with India was likely to buy equity in the planned Yanbu refinery of Saudi Aramco.
As well, a memorandum of understanding was expected to be signed today by Aramco and India's ONGC in Aramco's headquarters at Dhahran regarding co-operation and mutual investment projects.
India imports about 25% of its crude oil from Saudi Arabia, making the kingdom the largest oil supplier to India. India is also the fourth largest trade partner of Saudi Arabia with a total annual exchange of products worth about US$6.6 billion. Oil comprises the lions share of India's imports from Saudi Arabia with a total of $4.7 billion.
State-run Indian Oil Corp said in January that it had initiated talks with Saudi Aramco for the co-operation in building a strategic reserve of about 37.5 million barrels of oil.
