Dharmendra Pradhan on a 3 day visit to UAE from tomorrow

Oil Minister Dharmendra Pradhan will visit the UAE to drum up investment for oil exploration and city gas projects.

His three-day official visit from May 12 to 14 is a follow up on the state visit of Prime Minister Narendra Modi to the UAE in February, an official statement said here.

"During the visit, Pradhan is scheduled to meet his UAE counterparts Suhail Mohamed Faraj Al Mazrouei, Minister of Energy and Industry and Sultan Al Jaber, UAE Minister of State and Abu Dhabi National Oil Company Group CEO and discuss issues of bilateral hydrocarbon engagement," it said.

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

He is expected to jointly flag off the first consignment of ADNOC crude oil to be stored at the Mangalore underground strategic storage.

"This will be the first such investment by any foreign company in Indian Strategic Petroleum Reserve facility," it said.

During the state visit of Modi to UAE, ISPRL and Abu Dhabi National Oil Company (ADNOC) of UAE had signed the Amended and Restated Oil Storage and Management Agreement. Under the Agreement ADNOC would be storing about 5.86 million barrels of crude oil in the cavern at Mangalore at its own cost.

During the visit, Pradhan will participate in the 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.