Pradhan develops taste for overseas travel
Narendra Modi’s administration is intensifying India's hunt for overseas oil and gas opportunities.
From May 18-21 oil minister Dharmendra Pradhan visited Mexico and Colombia to cement ties with the hydrocarbon sector. And five days earlier on May 15 Pradhan told reporters in Mumbai that India is still interested in importing gas through a pipeline from Iran, saying an OVL team has visited Tehran for talks on how to move ahead at the Farsi block it operates with IndianOil and Oil India as hopes rise that UN sanctions will be lifted.
Pradhan said the proposed Turkmenistan to Afghanistan to Pakistan to India gas pipeline is “also on track” but offered no timelines. On his April 9-10 visit to Mozambique, he said OVL, Oil India and BPCL have invested $6bn in Anadarko’s Rovuma Area-1 offshore gasfield and want to invest another $6bn.
India wants more assets in Africa, Russia and Latin America where low oil prices have led to a ‘buyers market.’ Pradhan also said he would be meeting oil exporters at a June 5 OPEC meeting in Vienna to take advantage of depressed crude prices.