NEW DELHI (Reuters) - India's oil minister invited BP and Reliance Industries Ltd (RIL) on Thursday to invest in fuel retailing after they jointly pumped billions of dollars into a gasfield off the country's east coast.
BP Chief Executive Bob Dudley and Reliance Chairman Mukesh Ambani, who met India's oil minister Dharmendra Pradhan in New Delhi on Thursday, will hold a news conference later in the day.
"BP & RIL have invested in KG Basin," Pradhan said in a tweet after the meeting. "Invited them to invest in retail as well."
He did not elaborate.
Reliance holds a 60 percent stake in a gas block in the Krishna Godavari (KG) basin, BP owns 30 percent while Calgary-based Niko Resources Ltd holds the rest.
(Reporting by Krishna N. Das; editing by David Clarke)