Last year, India sought oil giant Saudi Aramco’s participation in its strategic petroleum reserve (SPR) program to strengthen ties with its key oil supplier. As the world’s third-largest oil importer and consumer, India was keen on taking the program forward. Even as the heads of both the nations – Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Crown Prince and Prime Minister Mohammed bin Salman – met, the talks gained traction.

Against this backdrop, at the India Energy Week 2024 in Goa, from February 6 to 9, Modi announced a $67 billion investment plan for the natural gas supply chain, which is expected to address the country’s surging energy requirements. Equally significant was a statement by Faisal Faqeer, Senior Vice President of Liquids to Chemicals Development, Downstream at Saudi Aramco, who said that announcements regarding investments in Indian companies may be expected soon. Specifics of the plan are yet to be revealed, though senior executives from Saudi Aramco have confirmed their active expansion of investments in refining and petrochemicals across Asia.

At the India Energy Week, which is a global gathering of policymakers, business leaders and energy pioneers, Saudi Aramco’s strong strides towards collaboration and strengthening partnerships with India have been received well.

Saudi Aramco, headquartered in Dhahran and with operations spanning the globe, is the world’s largest daily oil production company. It has repeatedly topped the charts for acquiring the largest annual profits in global corporate history.

In 2018, Saudi Aramco and an Indian Consortium comprising IOCL, BPCL and HPCL signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) to jointly develop and build an integrated refinery and petrochemicals complex – Ratnagiri Refinery & Petrochemicals Ltd. (RRPCL) – in the State of Maharashtra. That mega project, which ran into land acquisition constraints, was seen as a significant development in India’s Oil & Gas Sector.