Dharmendra Pradhan oils African ties with deals

NEW DELHI: Amid the war for market share among crude exporting countries, India on Thursday leveraged its thirst for oil to draw Africa closer in a two-way partnership for working towards mutual growth and prosperity.

"It is clear from our crude import figures that Africa has played an important role in India's energy security. Our government is keen to move towards a geographically diversified energy basket. There are several reasons for us to believe Africa will be the perfect partner in the hydrocarbon space," oil minister Dharmendra Pradhan said inaugurating the fourth India-Africa hydrocarbons conference in New Delhi.

Pradhan quoted liberally from PM Narendra Modi's speech at the India-Africa summit held in October to underline the benefits of collaborating in the energy sector."It is very important for us to achieve inclusive growth.We need to work together to ensure a better tomorrow for our people. And we will."

There is enough economic synergy to drive the rhetoric.Pradhan combined India's financial muscle -both in terms of market and investment capacity -with home grown expertise in the oil industry to offer two-way traffic.

Raising the prospect of sourcing more oil from Africa, Pradhan offered investments in joint ventures and training to help develop the African oil industry. "India has also offered concessional credit of $10 billion over the next five years for African countries. We have good scope to tap into this line of credit for projects in Africa," he said.

Discoveries over the last two decades have increased African oil reserves by over 100% and gas reserves by over 55%.