The Hindu Business Line : India, Libya keen on more tie-ups in oil, gas

At a meeting in Tripoli, Libya, on Wednesday between the Petroleum Minister, Mr Murli Deora, and the Chairman, National Oil Corporation of Libya, Dr Shukri Ghanem, specific areas of cooperation were identified which include projects in upstream, refinery, pipeline and the City Gas distribution among others.

According to an official communiqué, the Indian side explained that the country had in-depth experience in the upstream sector led by ONGC, which has in-house expertise in the entire gamut of exploration and production activities such as speculative surveys, drilling, data interpretation, and reservoir management. It suggested that ONGC Videsh Ltd (OVL) could participate in the discovered fields in partnership with Libyan companies. The Oil India-Indian Oil Corporation consortium could also adopt this model of cooperation. This would be in addition to the participation by Indian oil PSUs in the competitive bidding for E&P blocks offered by Libya. The Libyan side assured it would examine the proposal, the statement said.

City gas project

Libya evinced keen interest in drawing upon the Indian experience of implementing city gas projects in Delhi and Mumbai. India offered assistance to set up such projects in Libya.

The Libyan side agreed to send a team to study the projects. The two sides also discussed participation in downstream activities. They discussed participation of PSUs such as Indian Oil Corporation and Engineers India Ltd along with private companies such as Punj Lloyd in the refinery modernisation and expansion projects at Ras Lanuf, Toubruk and Azzawiah refineries. The Libyan side sought joint ventures with Indian participation in downstream projects like refineries, pipelines and petrochemicals.

Training needs

Indian Oil Corporation has proposed a memorandum of understanding for this purpose, the statement said. India also agreed to assist Libyan capacity building by offering to train Libyan energy personnel at the extensive and latest training facilities of ONGC, Indian Oil Corporation and GAIL.

During the meeting, Dr Ghanem endorsed the Indian view that stability in international oil prices is in the interest of both producer and the consumer nations.

In this respect, Libya is looking to diversify its basket of crude oil buyers, which is in sync with buyer countries like India which are looking for expanding sources of crude oil. This process will help in ensuring security of supply to the buyers as also avoiding glut on the supply side.

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