PM Modi's UAE visit to focus on energy security, Fujairah cooperation

Prime Minister Narendra Modi's UAE stopover will focus on energy cooperation and Fujairah as India seeks alternatives to the Strait of Hormuz route

Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s talks with Sheikh Zayed bin Sultan Al Nahyan, the President of the United Arab Emirates (UAE), on Friday in Abu Dhabi will focus on bilateral energy cooperation.

 

In recent weeks, India and the UAE have explored alternatives to bypass the Strait of Hormuz chokepoint. This could involve Indian vessels loading more oil and liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) shipments from the Port of Fujairah in the Gulf of Oman. Given India’s massive energy needs, such a plan would require expanding the capacity of the Fujairah oil terminal, along with the UAE laying an additional cross-peninsula pipeline from Abu Dhabi’s Habshan terminal to Fujairah.

 

 

Currently, the existing 406-km oil pipeline connects Abu Dhabi’s oil fields to the Habshan terminal and onward to Fujairah, bypassing the Strait of Hormuz. However, it has the capacity to transfer only 1.5-1.8 million barrels of oil per day. The UAE’s crude oil production capacity currently stands at 4.85 million barrels per day, though actual production is around 3.4 million barrels per day, and it intends to raise output following its exit from the Organisation of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) and OPEC+. India consumes around 5.5 million barrels of oil daily.

 

On May 4, the UAE accused Iran of carrying out a ballistic missile and drone attack on Fujairah’s oil infrastructure. The following day, PM Modi strongly condemned the attacks on the port city, which wounded three Indian nationals, and asserted that India stood in firm solidarity with the Gulf nation. He also noted that ensuring “safe and unimpeded navigation through the Strait of Hormuz is vital for enduring regional peace, stability and global energy security”.

 

The UAE will be the first stop of Modi’s four-nation Europe tour from May 15 to 20, during which he will also visit the Netherlands (May 15-17), Sweden (May 17-18), Norway (May 18-19), and Italy (May 19-20). Modi will attend the third India-Nordic Summit in Oslo, Norway.

 

The PM’s stopover in the UAE, which sources said was added to the itinerary at a later stage, comes amid disruptions to India’s energy sourcing from the Gulf region because of the conflict in West Asia. External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar, National Security Adviser Ajit Doval, and Foreign Secretary Vikram Misri visited the UAE over the past month.

 

Randhir Jaiswal, spokesperson for the Ministry of External Affairs, said that while India-UAE ties are multifaceted, energy cooperation remains central, and both sides would discuss ways to further strengthen energy ties. Discussions will also cover the welfare of the 4.5 million Indians living and working in the UAE, he said.

 

India-UAE ties have strengthened over the past 12 years. The UAE President visited India on January 19 for a brief four-hour visit, during which Modi received him at the airport and accompanied him to Lok Kalyan Marg. The May 15 visit is also expected to further deepen trade and investment linkages between the two countries, the MEA said. The UAE is India’s third-largest trading partner and the seventh-largest source of cumulative investment into India over the past 25 years.

 

In energy ties, the UAE was India’s fourth-largest source of crude oil last year, meeting nearly 11 per cent of India’s requirements. It is also India’s third-largest supplier of liquefied natural gas (LNG). Indian companies and Abu Dhabi National Oil Company (ADNOC) Gas have entered into long-term agreements for the supply of a cumulative 4.5 metric tonnes per annum (mmtpa) of LNG to India, making India the largest buyer of UAE LNG.

 

The UAE is also India’s largest supplier of LPG, meeting nearly 40 per cent of India’s requirements. It is the second-largest destination for exports of petroleum, oil and lubricants (POL) from Indian refiners. India exported more than $6 billion worth of POL products to the UAE last year.

 

Indian companies have invested over $1.2 billion in the UAE’s upstream energy sector. In 2018, a consortium of Indian companies — OVL, BPRL and IOCL — acquired a 10 per cent stake in the Lower Zakum block in the UAE. In 2019, Urja Bharat Private Limited, a joint venture between BPRL and IOCL, acquired a stake in Abu Dhabi Onshore Block-1. In January, BPRL confirmed an oil discovery in Abu Dhabi’s Onshore Block-1 — the first such upstream investment success by Indian companies in the West Asia region.

 

The UAE was also the first country to partner India on strategic petroleum reserves. In 2018, Indian Strategic Petroleum Reserves Limited (ISPRL) and ADNOC signed an agreement allowing the UAE to store more than 5 million barrels of crude oil at ISPRL’s facility in Mangaluru.

 

India and the UAE are also expanding cooperation in renewable energy. In October 2024, MASDAR and the Rajasthan government signed an agreement to set up 60 GW of renewable energy capacity. Both sides have also initiated a feasibility study on grid interconnection.

 

The UAE is also a founding member of the Global Biofuels Alliance launched during India’s G20 Presidency in September 2023.

 

PM’s European tour 

A key focus of the PM’s Europe tour will be technology partnerships, especially in green energy. Modi last visited the Netherlands in 2017. The country is among India’s largest trade partners in Europe, with bilateral trade worth $27.8 billion in 2024-25, and is India’s fourth-largest investor, with cumulative foreign direct investment (FDI) of $55.6 billion. The Tata Group’s Dholera semiconductor fabrication plant will use equipment from Dutch semiconductor giant ASML.

 

Modi will visit Sweden on May 17-18. He had earlier travelled there in 2018 for the first India-Nordic Summit. Discussions with Swedish leaders will focus on increasing bilateral trade, which reached $7.75 billion in 2025, and Swedish FDI into India, which stood at $2.825 billion between 2000 and 2025. Modi and Swedish Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson will also address the European Round Table for Industry, alongside European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen.

 

In Norway, Modi will attend the third India-Nordic Summit along with bilateral engagements. The visit marks the first visit by an Indian PM to Norway in 43 years. Discussions will focus on trade and investment opportunities arising from the India-European Free Trade Association (EFTA) Trade and Economic Partnership Agreement. EFTA comprises Iceland, Liechtenstein, Norway and Switzerland.

 

The MEA said the Norway visit would help boost bilateral trade, which stood at around $2.73 billion in 2024, and investments by Norway’s Government Pension Fund Global (GPFG), which has close to $28 billion invested in Indian capital markets.

 

The third India-Nordic Summit will be held in Oslo on May 19. Modi will be joined by his counterparts from Norway (Jonas Gahr Støre), Denmark (Mette Frederiksen), Finland (Petteri Orpo, Iceland (Kristrún Frostadóttir), and Sweden (Ulf Kristersson). The previous summits were held in Stockholm in April 2018 and Copenhagen in May 2022.

 

According to the MEA, the summit will add a stronger strategic dimension to India’s engagement with Nordic countries, particularly in technology and innovation, green transition and renewable energy, sustainability, the blue economy, defence, space, and Arctic cooperation. The visit is also expected to strengthen bilateral trade, which stood at $19 billion in 2024, and deepen investment ties while helping build resilient supply chains following the India-EU FTA and India-EFTA TEPA.

 

In the final leg of the tour, Modi will visit Italy on May 19-20 at the invitation of Italian PM Giorgia Meloni. Modi last visited Italy in June 2024 for the G7 Summit. India-Italy bilateral trade reached $16.77 billion in 2025, while cumulative Italian FDI in India stood at $3.66 billion between April 2000 and September 2025.

 

The PM will also visit the headquarters of the Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) in Rome. The MEA said the Europe visit would further deepen India’s partnership with the continent across sectors, particularly trade and investment, in light of the recently concluded India-EU FTA, the MEA said.