Kuwait Petroleum Corporation (KPC) is keen on forging an alliance with Reliance Industries Ltd (RIL) on the refining and petrochemicals side. The co-operation may also open the gates for the long overdue co-operation between Reliance and the US-based Dow Chemicals.
Sa’ad Ali Al Shuwaib, CEO and vice-chairman of KPC, has indicated that KPC would look at its co-operation with Reliance in conjunction with Dow Chemicals, which has an extensive exposure in Kuwait.
?Shuwaib is very impressed with the on-going projects of Reliance, particularly in the refinery sector and said that KPC would be keen to look at some sort of co-operation and presence in Reliance’s new refinery,? said the Indian Ambassador in Kuwait, M Ganapathi, in a recent letter to N Ravi, secretary (East), ministry of external affairs . KPC’s petrochem subsidiary, Petrochemicals Industries Company (PIC), and Dow Chemicals have together floated a joint venture company – Equate – to set up a state of the art petrochemical complex in Kuwait.
Detailed discussions with RIL will be held during Shuwaib’s visit to India. The Indian Ambassador has conveyed that Shuwaib is shortly planning a visit to Asia in end Octber-early November, which is expected to take him to China, India and Vietnam.
?While in India he would like to visit New Delhi and pay a courtesy call on the minister of petroleum and natural gas besides holding discussions with oil companies. He plans to visit Mumbai for talks with Reliance and L&T,? Ganpathi wrote in his letter.
L&T already has a presence in Kuwait and is keen on expanding its activities. In April this year, L&T secured the $130-million KAFCO project to construct an aviation fuel depot at Kuwait airport.
L&T has also recently supplied a large reactor to Equate, which was the world’s heaviest and largest reactor. Kuwait is clearly inclined to improve its existing ties with India in the oil and gas sector. This is clear from Ganpathi?s letter, which said, ?Shuwaib has also conveyed in his meeting that the co-operation between India and Kuwait in the field of petroleum is currently anchored heavily in crude oil sourcing and should be expanded to other areas. He said that he would like to look at the considerable opportunities between the two countries.?
