India upbeat about gaining interest in Lower Zakum oil field of UAE
Published: Feb 13, 2018
By TIOLCORPLAWS News Service
NEW DELHI, FEB 13, 2018: Minister of Petroleum & Natural gas, Mr Dharmendra Pradhan shared at his media interaction about accomplishment of some historical milestones in the India-UAE oil and gas relations during the State Visit of PM Modi to the UAE during Feb 10-11, 2018.
The Concession Agreement awards 10% participating interest in Abu Dhabi's offshore Lower Zakum oil field to a consortium of Indian Public Sector companies which comprises ONGC Videsh, IOCL and BPRL. The Agreement, effective from March 9, 2018, was signed at the Royal Palace in Abu Dhabi on Feb 10, 2018 in the presence of PM Modi and Mr Sheikh Mohamed bin ZayedAl Nahyan, Crown Prince of Abu Dhabi.
The offshore concession in favour of the Indian consortium has taken both country's bilateral engagement in the oil and gas sector to a golden phase which is in sync with the comprehensive strategic partnership between two countries. India and the UAE have progressed from a buyer-seller relationship to an era of mutual investments in the oil and gas sector.This will be the first Indian upstream investment in a producing asset in the Gulf region and in the Middle East. The Agreement reflects the vision of PM towards strengthening hydrocarbon linkages with the UAE on a win-win basis.
From a current production of 400,000 barrels per day, the production will peak at 450,000 barrels per day by 2025. Indian share of oil will be 10%, i.e. about 2.24 MMTPA at peak production. Average share for India will be 1.75 MMTPA for next 40 years. Total cumulative share of the Indian consortium will be 70 MMT over the next 40 years.
The Concession Agreement will directly boost India's energy security. Indian share of 900,000 barrels of DAS Crude for March, 2018 and 1.2 million barrels for April, 2018 has already been offered by ADNOC. Participation will provide a valuable platform to Indian upstream companies to work alongside the international majors and thus expose them to the latest state-of-the-art technology and management practices.
