Eric Watkins
Senior Correspondent
LOS ANGELES, Jan 30 -- India and Saudi Arabia signed a strategic energy partnership, the Delhi Declaration, to work cooperatively in the upstream and downstream sectors, the government said in a Jan. 27 joint statement.
The signing was announced near the end of Saudi Arabia King Abdullah bin Abdulaziz
al-Saud's visit to India. Previously, Saudi Arabia signed a similar accord with China regarding oil, gas, and minerals (OGJ Online, Jan. 24, 2006).
The India-Saudi strategic energy partnership envisions increased volumes of crude oil supplies from Saudi to India via long-term contracts that would be renewed automatically. Currently, India imports 25 million tonnes/year of Saudi crude oil.
The declaration also is expected to promote Saudi investments in oil refining, marketing, and storage in India, as well as India-Saudi ventures in gas-based fertilizer plants in Saudi Arabia.
