Dharmendra Pradhan to visit UAE from May 12 to14

Union Minister of Petroleum and Natural Gas Dharmendra Pradhan will lead an official delegation to the United Arab Emirates (UAE) from May 12 to 14.

The visit comes nearly three months after Prime Minister Narendra Modi's state visit to the UAE in February.

During the visit, Pradhan is scheduled to meet his UAE counterparts, H.E. Suhail Mohamed Faraj Al Mazrouei, Minister of Energy and Industry and H.E. Dr. Sultan Al Jaber, UAE Minister of State and Abu Dhabi National Oil Company (ADNOC) Group CEO and discuss issues of bilateral hydrocarbon engagement within the overall framework of India-UAE Strategic Partnership.

He will also participate in the UAE Downstream Investment Forum and speak on 'New Trade Flows, New Market Opportunities'.

In February, Prime Minister Modi and UAE's ADNOC had signed the Amended and Restated Oil Storage and Management Agreement, under which the latter would store about 5.86 million barrels of crude oil in the cavern at Mangalore at its own cost.

Pradhan, along with H.E. Sultan Jaber, is expected to jointly flag off the first consignment of ADNOC crude oil for Strategic Petroleum Reserve (SPR) facility of Indian Strategic Petroleum Reserves Ltd (ISPRL) at Mangalore. This will be the first such investment by any foreign company in Indian SPR facility.

Pradhan is also slated to meet H.E. Nasser Al Hamli, UAE Minister for Human Resources and Emiratization to discuss outcomes of the first Skill Mapping Conference held in April this year.

The Union Skill Development and Entrepreneurship Minister will also participate in a roadshow on the Discovered Small Fields (DSF) Bid Round - II and 9th City Gas Distribution (CGD) international bidding round, inviting foreign investors to participate in the largest Indian CGD bid round covering 174 districts.

Apart from this, a joint presentation on 'India's downstream sector' is slated to be presented during the aforementioned visit by the Indian Oil Corporation (IOCL) Chairman and Hindustan Petroleum Corporation Limited (HPCL) chief managing director, who will also be accompanying Pradhan to the UAE.