Abu Dhabi's ADNOC seeks to expand downstream investment in Asia

By Nidhi Verma

NEW DELHI (Reuters) - Abu Dhabi National Oil Company is seeking to invest in more downstream assets, mainly in refining and petrochemicals, in strategic locations like India to find a stable outlet for its oil, said its chief executive officer, Sultan Ahmed Al Jaber.

"India is not only an important market for us. India is a very strategic partner for United Arab Emirates, spanning all ... sectors, energy being one of (them)," he told reporters on the sidelines of energy conference Petrotech.

ADNOC, along with Saudi Aramco, is participating in a planned 1.2 million-barrels-per-day (bpd) coastal refinery in western Maharashtra state.

ADNOC is also keen to lease more strategic storage in India, Al Jaber said.

"Expanding our strategic reserve in India will be an item on the agenda to be discussed with our great friends in India," he told a conference in New Delhi.

ADNOC last year signed a preliminary agreement to use half of the Padur strategic reserve facility in southern India. The site can store about 2.5 million tonnes or 18 million barrels of crude.

India, which relies on oil imports for about 80 percent of its needs, has built underground emergency storage in three places to protect itself from any disruption.

The underground reserves can hold 36.87 million barrels or about 9.5 days of average demand.

ADNOC, the only foreign company with a deal to store oil in India's strategic reserves, has another storage deal agreement at Mangalore's strategic storage in Karnataka.

"We will always be looking for ways to enhance our cooperation with our Indian counterparts, catering for the Indian market and beyond," Al Jaber said.

(Reporting by Nidhi Verma; Editing by Tom Hogue)