India’s petroleum minister Shri Dharmendra Pradhan led a delegation to Mexico and Colombia this week to meet with officials in each country in hopes of transforming the relationship among the three countries from “buyer-seller” to an “energy partnership.”
Pradhan said on his public Facebook page that India imports about 10 million tonnes of crude oil from both Mexico and Colombia.
Earlier in the week, Pradhan met with his counterpart in Mexico, Pedro Joaquin Coldwell (pictured, right), as well as Mexico’s minister of economy Ildefonso Guajardo Villareal, and Pemex CEO Emilio Lozoya Austin during the visit held from 18-19 May. The Indian delegation included Shri Sujan Chinoy, the country’s ambassador to Mexico; B Ashok, chairman of IOC; and Narendra Kumar Verma, managing director of ONGC Videsh Ltd.
With his visit, Pradhan intended to show that Mexico, following the opening of its energy sector, factors in heavily as a continued source of India’s crude imports. “Indian companies are willing to participate in the exploration and production activities in Mexico including in deep water and unconventional resources,” he said in a press release.
And the country has already made investments there including, ONGC Videsh opening an office in Mexico City. ONGC has also signed a memorandum of understanding with Pemex for cooperation in upstream sector in September 2014. The MOU also included a path to cooperation for technology, human resources, research and development.
On 20 May, Pradhan and his delegation arrived in Bogota, Colombia, to meet with the country’s minister of mines and energy, Tomás González Estrada, and to address a business round table that includes many Indian companies doing business in Colombia.
Pradhan said that 6 million tonnes of crude are imported from Colombia. He also cited ONGC Videsh’s investments of around US$1.25 billion. ONGC holds interest in several block both on- and offshore Colombia. In the 2012 bid round, it received one block offshore in the Guajira basin, and one onshore block in the Llanos basin, where a discovery was made in 2013.
Pradhan’s visit is scheduled to wrap up in Colombia on 22 May.
Image: India's petroleum minister Pradhan and Mexico's energy secretary Pedro Joaquin Coldwell. Source: Dharmendra Pradhan's Facebook page.
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