Iraq rolls out red carpet for Indian investors in oil, gas & petrochemicals

Iraq’s deputy prime minister for energy Hussan Ibrahim Saleh al-Shahristani on Wednesday called upon Indian investors including Reliance Industries to invest in Iraq in building more export outlets, pipelines connecting oilfields with export terminals as well as constructing tank farms to increase storage capacity.

Besides, Indian companies can also participate in the construction of power projects in Iraq. He wanted the Indian government, politicians and companies to increase the pace of bidding on the lines of China in Iraq’s oil and gas sector.

Hussain said his country was open for Indian and Iraq companies to jointly participate in the oil and gas sector and also Indian companies can go solo. Hussian said Iraq wants to become a petrochemical hub. Further, he opined that the recent upsurge in middle east and north Africa will not hamper the global oil supply.

Iraq's infrastructure including transportation, electricity and water supply are in desperate need for rehabilitation. Over 500 USD billion are required to re-build the country's infrastructure, Hussain said.

At the same time Hussain said the Iraq would provide all the necessary assistance to meet India’s growing needs for oil with its proven reserves of 143 billion barrels, which is about 11% of the world’s total. “India’s dependence on oil imports will increase from 74% in 2012 to 92% in 20 years time which requires special attention to be given to the issue of security of supply,” he noted. Hussain was delivering here the IISS The Oberoi Lecture on “Recent trends in the global energy, oil and gas economy.”

Iraq deputy PM said despite all the admirable efforts to increase local production and to diversify its energy sources, including its ambitious plans to add 20 GW of solar photovoltaic capacity, India will still depend heavily on imported hydrocarbons. Oil imports are expected to increase by more than 4% every year from now till 2035 to reach 6.8 mbpd from around 2.5 mbpd today.

RIL exploring all investment opportunities in Iraq's oil, gas and petrochemicals sector

Reliance industries is evaluating all opportunities in Iraq's oil & gas sector and petrochemicals. So far nothing has been finalised, informed RIL CMD Mukesh Ambani. To a repeated querries, Mukesh declined to divulge further details with regard to RIL's investment strategy for Iraq but reiterated that it was looking into all possibilities.

On whether RIL will participate in bidding process being proposed by Iraq for the Nasiriya giant oilfield, Mukesh declined to give comment.
 
Further, on recent government decision on revising gas price to $8.20 per mmbtu from $4.20, Mukesh said "no comment"
 
Mukesh Ambani was speaking at the sidelines of IISS - The Oberoi Lecture by Iraq deputy PM Hussain Saleh al-Shahristani.