Abu Dhabi: Mohamed Bin Zayed and India’s Prime Minister Witness Signing of Agreement, Mous

The United Arab Emirates and the Republic of India signedan agreement and four memoranda of understanding between the UAE and India as part of joint efforts to consolidate bilateral partnerships and cooperation and open up prospects for joint work.

His Highness Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan, Crown Prince of Abu Dhabi and Deputy Supreme Commander of the Armed Forces of the UAE, and Narendra Modi, the Prime Minister of the Republic of India, witnessed the signing ceremony at the Presidential Palace in Abu Dhabi.

The two leaders witnessed the signing of an historic agreement, awarding a consortium of Indian oil companies a 10% interest in Abu Dhabi’s offshore Lower Zakum concession.

The agreement, which has a term of 40 years and an effective date of March 9, 2018, was signed by Dr Sultan Ahmed Al Jaber, ADNOC Group Chief Executive Officer, and Shri Shashi Shanker, Chairman, ONGC Group of companies.

The consortium, led by India’s ONGC Videsh, contributed a participation fee of AED 2.2 billion ($600 million) to enter the concession. The concession will be operated by ADNOC Offshore, a subsidiary of ADNOC, on behalf of all concession partners.

The UAE and Indian Ministry of External Affairs entered into a MoU on cooperation in manpower. It was sealed by Nasser bin Thani Al Hamli, Minister of Human Resources and Emiratisation, and Navdeep Suri, Indian Ambassador to the UAE.

Another MoU between the UAE Federal Authority for Land and Maritime Transport and Indian Ministry of Railways was inked by Dr. Abdullah bin Mohammed Belhaif Al Nuaimi, Minister of Infrastructure Development, and Navdeep Suri, Indian Ambassador to the UAE.

DP World Group Chairman and CEO Sultan Ahmed bin Sulayem, and Haseeb Ahmed Drabu, the Finance Minister of Jammu and Kashmir, inked a MoU between DP World and the Government of Jammu and Kashmir.

The last MoU was also signed by Rashid Al Baloushi, CEO of Abu Dhabi Securities Exchange, ADX, and Ashishkumar Chauhan, Managing Director & CEO of Bombay Stock Exchange, BSE.

Alongside the concession award, ADNOC and the Indian Strategic Petroleum Reserves Ltd (ISPRL) exchanged agreement, today, to implement the strategic crude oil storage facility, in the southern Indian city of Mangalore.

The partnership with ISPRL, an Indian government-owned company mandated to store crude oil for strategic needs, covers the storage of 5.86 million barrels of ADNOC crude oil in underground facilities, at the Karnataka facility.

The oil storage facility will help ensure India’s energy security, as well as enable ADNOC to efficiently and competitively meet market demand in India and across the fast developing south east Asian economies.

The decision to establish the strategic reserve was announced, in January 2017, during a visit to India by Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed. His Highness Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan, Crown Prince of Abu Dhabi and Deputy Supreme Commander of the Armed Forces of the UAE, and Narendra Modi, the Prime Minister of the Republic of India, welcomed the signing of these agreements which they said would serve strategic interests of both countries.

Commenting on the signing of these agreements, His Highness Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed said the historic ADNOC Offshore Concession Agreement signals the maturity of UAE-India's long-term strategic ties in various sectors.

The agreement will contribute towards sustained prosperity in both countries and increase trade exchange consistent with ADNOC's 2030 integrated strategic partnerships for smart growth,'' His Highness said. Speaking at the signing, Prime Minister Modi said "The offshore concession in favour of the Indian consortium has taken our bilateral engagement in the oil and gas sector to a new level, which befits the comprehensive strategic partnership between our two countries.

I am happy to note that we have progressed from a buyer-seller relationship to an era of mutual investments in the oil and gas sector." The concession award to the Indian consortium, marks the first-time Indian oil and gas companies have been given a stake in Abu Dhabi’s hydrocarbon resources.

Lower Zakum is one of three new separate concession areas that make up the former ADMA offshore concession, namely Lower Zakum, Umm Shaif and Nasr and Sateh Al Razboot (SARB) and Umm Lulu.

The restructuring of concessions is aimed at maximising commercial value, broadening the partner base, expanding technical expertise, and enabling greater market access.

The concession award to the Indian consortium, marks the first-time Indian oil and gas companies have been given a stake in Abu Dhabi’s hydrocarbon resources.

The Indian consortium is made up of ONGC’s wholly owned subsidiary ONGC Videsh, which has stakes in 39 oil and gas projects, in 18 countries; the Indian Oil Corporation, India’s largest commercial enterprise, encompassing the entire hydrocarbon value chain, which caters to nearly half of India’s petroleum consumption with 11 of India’s 23 refineries a 13,000-km pipelines network and a countrywide marketing set-up of over 47,000 customer touch-points, and Bharat PetroResources, which has stakes in 23 oil and gas assets in 7 countries and is a 100% subsidiary of Bharat Petroleum Corporation Limited which has interests encompassing the entire hydrocarbon value chain.