Equinor sets up office in New Delhi to support oil marketing, trading

SINGAPORE (Reuters) - Norway's Equinor said on Friday it is setting up an office in India's capital New Delhi partly to support its oil marketing and trading activities.

The company expects to appoint a country manager for the office soon, Equinor's spokesman said in an e-mail to Reuters.

"It will not be a dedicated trading office as such but the office will also support our marketing and trading activities for crude, LPG (liquefied petroleum gas) and other products towards the Indian market," he said.

India is the world's third largest crude oil importer and it overtook Japan as the world's second largest LPG importer in 2017.

Equinor's Senior Vice President for trading and marketing, Tor Martin Anfinnsen, said in Singapore last year that the company was opening an office in Tokyo and its first office in India by early 2019 as it expands its presence in Asia.

Besides marketing its equity oil from Europe, Africa and the Americas to Asian customers, Equinor also trades oil from Russia and the Middle East.

In November, Equinor struck a deal to build and operate an LPG terminal at Port Klang, Malaysia. The terminal could start operating in mid-2021, enabling Equinor to sell LPG to south and southeast Asian countries.

(Reporting by Florence Tan; Editing by Subhranshu Sahu)