Petroleum minister Murli Deora held bilateral talks with his counterparts from Chad, Ethiopia and Comoros on Monday for expanding cooperation in various activities in the hydrocarbon sector.
The bilateral meeting with Ghana focused on possibilities of developing CNG facilities in Ghana by GAIL. It was informed that the refinery expansion project planned by Ghana offers another area of co-operation in which Engineers India Limited (EIL) could assist in engineering and technical consultancy services. The refinery presently has a capacity of about 2 million tonne per annum (mmtpa), which Ghana intends to raise to 5 mmtpa. Ghana also conveyed its interest in importing finished petroleum products from India as India has surplus refining capacity.
In his meeting with Emmanuel Nadingar, the energy minister of Chad, Deora discussed possibilities of India?s assistance to chalk out exploration acreages and other technical services in the E&P sector. Training of petroleum sector personnel in upstream and down stream was also discussed during the meeting. ?The Indian side elaborated investment potential by oil PSUs in the overseas ventures which could support development of hydrocarbon industry in Chad,? an official release said.
In the meeting with minister of mines and energy of Ethiopia, Alemayehu Tegenu, Deora discussed various initiatives for cooperating in the oil and gas sector and offered involvement of EIL in the engineering sector of Ethiopia. Similar assistance was also offered in largely unexplored E&P sector of Ethiopia along with utilising Indian expertise in setting up refinery in the country.
?The Indian side also offered its assistance in developing pipeline network along with building infrastructure for transportation of LNG in smaller quantities to the places which are not connected by pipelines. Ethiopian Minister showed keen interest in India?s ethanol blended petrol programme and enquired about the progress in bio-diesel production in the country,? the release said.
In his meeting with the minister of energy, mine, industry and handicraft of Comoros Houmadi Abdallah, Deora showcased Indian capabilities and the potential areas of cooperation between the enterprises of two countries. He pointed out that India is keen to take forward cooperation in the hydrocarbon sector between two countries. It was explained that EIL has capabilities in engineering and technical consultancy services in the refinery operations, turn around maintenance, de-bottlenecking studies, etc.