India, UAE energy ties to grow following Sheikh Mohamed's visit

Abu Dhabi, Feb 10 (IANS/WAM) The cooperation between India and the UAE in the energy sector is expected to grow following the visit to India of Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan, Crown Prince of Abu Dhabi and Deputy Supreme Commander of the UAE Armed Forces, beginning Wednesday.

The visit comes six months after Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi came to the United Arab Emirates (UAE) to strengthen bilateral ties and increase investments between the two countries.

A number of new agreements are likely to be signed, including on oil and gas and renewable energy, as part of the Abu Dhabi crown prince's visit, Gulf News, a UAE-based daily, said.

"India is a growing energy market particularly with the Chinese demand slowing. So far we haven't seen very much action by the Indian energy companies in the UAE so might be interesting to see if Indian energy companies are going to play more of a role here," the paper quoted Robin Mills, chief executive officer of Dubai-based Qamar Energy, as saying.

Mills said there is a lot of room for investment in the Indian energy sector, particularly in power generation.

"A memorandum of understanding already exists between Abu Dhabi National Oil Company, (Adnoc), and the Indian Strategic Petroleum Reserve. India is seen as an important customer for UAE oil and the cooperation could stretch to UAE investment in developing energy reserves of gas and oil in India," Gary Dugan, chief investment officer at Emirates NBD, said.

India imports about 270,000 barrels of crude oil per day, with the UAE being the sixth-largest supplier of the commodity to India.

--IANS/WAM

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