Prime Minister Narendra Modi will meet Crown Prince of Abu Dhabi, Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed Al Nahyan, at the Presidential palace on Saturday.
Two countries are expected to sign an agreement on Saturday, which will give Indian companies a head start over other global competitors in securing equity in an offshore oil concession in the West Asian nation.
After the bilateral meeting, the Indian community members, who are in-charge of building a temple will be presenting documents related to the plans and architecture of the temple. Land for the temple was announced during Modi’s first visit in August 2015.
Sources said that ahead of the PM visit, Abu Dhabi National Oil Co (Adnoc) approved a 10% equity to ONGC Videsh Ltd in its ADMA-OPCO offshore concession whose license comes up for renewal next month. OVL, along with Bharat Petroleum Corp and Indian Oil Corp, would pay $600 million for the stake in the concession which currently produces around 7,00,000 barrels per day (bpd) of crude oil but is projected to touch a million bpd by 2021.
PM Modi, who wants to cut India’s oil imports by 10% by 2022, is steering efforts to buy foreign energy assets, taking advantage of low oil prices. Indian firms have been told to acquire such assets to improve energy security as the country imports about 80% of its crude oil needs.
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