ARAMCO EYES NEW PROJECTS IN INDIA AFTER RELIANCE SCRAPS OIL-TO-CHEM DEAL

MUMBAI: Saudi Aramco said it will continue to look for investment opportunities in India, days after Reliance Industries Ltd. scrapped a plan to sell a stake in its oil-to-chemicals unit to the Middle Eastern company.

“India offers tremendous growth opportunities over the long term,” Aramco said in a statement on Sunday. It will “continue to evaluate new and existing business opportunities with our potential partners.”

Aramco had signed a nonbinding letter of intent in August 2019 for a potential 20% stake in Reliance’s oil-to-chemicals unit valued at about $15 billion. Reliance said the companies would walk away from the deal on Friday.

“Reliance and Aramco have a longstanding relationship and will continue to look for investment opportunities in India,” Aramco said.

Reliance, in its statement, also said it will continue to be Aramco’s preferred partner in India and “is committed” to a pact with the firm, without specifying further.

As recently as June this year, Reliance said it expected to finalize the investment deal with Aramco and appointed the latter’s chairman, Yasir Al-Rumayyan an independent director on its board.

That revived hopes of the deal coming through after Mukesh Ambani, Asia’s richest person, said in 2020 that the pandemic and its impact on fuel demand had created hurdles for the transaction.

Saudi Aramco’s Saudi Basic Industries Corp. is seeking to play a bigger role in India as the nation’s net-zero target boosts solar power and electric vehicles, creating demand for specialty plastics and chemicals.

India’s $178 billion chemicals market is already the sixth-largest in the world and is set to expand further over the next few years as rising disposable incomes and changes in consumption patterns boost the use of cars.