Kuwait Petro in talks with RIL, IndianOil for oil refinery
New Delhi   07-Dec-2007
Kuwait Petroleum Corp (KPC) is in talks with Reliance Industries Ltd and state-owned IndianOil for setting up a multi-billion-dollar "world-scale" oil refinery and petrochemical complex in India. Disclosing this Mr Saad A. Al-Shuwaib, CEO, KPC, said that he met top officials of RIL in Mumbai on Wednesday and held a meeting with IndianOil board members on Thursday to explore the possibility of setting up 400,000 barrels a day refinery and a chemical plant with an annual capacity of one million tonnes. 'it could be a green-field project or a joint acquisition," Mr Al-Shuwaib said and added that the production from these proposed refineries would be exported from India. Mr Al-Shuwaib said that the joint ventures could at a future date look at projects outside India. KPC is open to taking two partners, if necessary. He said KPC would be willing to supply crude oil for this refinery and petrochemical project in India. "We would like to-supply it with Kuwait Oil That is the main investment target for us," he said. Kuwait Petroleum currently exports around 250,000 bbl per day of crude to India on annual term-contracts to Indian companies like IOC and Reliance and is keen to raise the supplies. "We can raise it but it depends on the companies," KPC's managing director Mr Abdullatif A. Al-Houti said. "We would like to be always committed to the Government of India in supplying oil (and) better relations for reliable supplies," Mr Al-Shuwaib said. Mr Al-Shuwaib made it clear that they were not interested in taking stake in any of the existing refineries like the Jamnagar refinery or the refinery to be built by Reliance Petroleum Limited. They are interested in new projects. Mr Al-Houti said that KPC would be looking at IndianOil's 150,000 barrels per day Paradip project, which has been reconfigured to include a refinery-cum-petrochemical plant. Kuwait Petroleum Corp could not consider it earlier as it was only a refinery project and they were interested in an integrated refinery-cum-petrochemical complex. On high global crude prices, Mr Al-Shuwaib said:” We see prices going up and; down. We don't see problems with the supply and demand."