India, UAE talk mutual investment, also in strategic oil reserve

India and the UAE on Friday held discussions on posssibilities of mutual investment in the oil and gas sectors, including about the latter investing in the building India's strategic oil reserve.

These issues were discussed at a meeting between visiting Petroleum Minister Dharmedra Pradhan, and UAE's Energy Minister Suhail Mohammed Al Mazrouei.

"Had detailed discussion with Oil Minister of UAE;it's 3rd meeting with him in a year;agreed on few concrete projects," Pradhan tweeted.

"Discussed investment in Indian strategic oil reserve; mutual investment in oil, gas, refinery, petrochemical projects," he said in another tweet.

Gulf and Saudi oil majors, such as Aramco, the Kuwait Petroleum Corp and the Abu Dhabi National Oil Company, have earlier shown interest in storage in India as it reduces their transport costs into Southeast Asia.

In India's first phase of building strategic oil reserves, the storage cavern at Vishakhapatnam has been completed, while construction is in the final stages at Padur and Mangaluru, both in Karnataka.

Pradhan's visit to the United Arab Emirates is a follow up of the February India visit of Abu Dhabi's Crown Prince Sheikh Mohammed Bin Zayed Al Nahyan and Mazrouei.

During his visit, Pradhan will also meet the CEO of Abu Dhabi National Oil Company and the chairman of the Abu Dhabi Investment Authority.

UAE contributes in a major way to India's energy security, being the sixth-largest supplier of crude oil. India is the second-largest destination for UAE's oil exports.