Venezuela keen on supplying oil to Indian shores

Venezuela on Friday said it was keen to supply oil to India and provide technical assistance for exploration and refining of crude even as i...

Venezuela on Friday said it was keen to supply oil to India and provide technical assistance for exploration and refining of crude even as it invited Indian companies to invest in agriculture activities and infrastructure development.

Speaking at a CII-Ficci business meeting, Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez said, “We want to extend short-term and long-term support to India in oil exploration and production and also supply to India. We are ready to sign investment agreements with India.”

Inviting Indian companies to tap the vast reserves of gas and oil in Venezuela, he said his country was keen to extend all possible help in the sector to India.

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“We are aware of India’s needs now and about what it will be in the future. We know that India imports most of its petroleum. We now want to supply to India,” he said.

Chavez said he would be signing agreements on energy cooperation when he meets Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on Saturday. He also said Venezuela will extend technical assistance in exploration and refining of crude. Chavez said Venezuela will be investing around $40 billion, of which $10 billion will be used for “brother countries like India”. Having exported oil to the US for a very long time, Chavez said his country has now begun exporting to China, Brazil and Cuba and was looking at India for big-time cooperation in the sector.

He asked for India’s expertise in setting up manufacturing plants for medicine and textiles and investment in telecom, roads, houses, ports, airports and railways.

African invite for Indian firms

NEW DELHI: Indian oil firms may soon be cruising on an African safari. African nations Chad, Niger, Ghana and Congo are keen on Indian firms exploring oil and gas there and want technical support for upgrading their refineries. This was stated by Petroleum Minister Mani Shankar Aiyar on Friday.

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Aiyar, who held separate discussions with Chad Deputy Prime Minister Nagoum Yamassoum, Niger Foreign Minister Aichtou Mindaoudou, Ghana Energy Minister Nike Oquaye and Congo Vice-President Jean Pierre Bemba, said the African nations want Indian public sector firms to invest in prospecting for oil and gas. “We have agreed to look into possible areas of cooperation,” he told reporters.

Congo wants Indian expertise in upgrading and enhancing capacity of a refinery on the Atlantic coast and developing it into an export refinery. Earlier at a session on oil and gas at the Africa-India Project Partnership 2005 Summit, speakers observed that as fields in the Gulf of Guinea and offshore Angola move into production, new exploration will soon take off in other African countries. Yamassoum said Chad was looking at inviting foreign investors to tap the oil and gas potential. —ENS