Tuesday, March 29 2005 13:33 Hrs (IST) - World Time -

Dubai: India seeks long-term oil deals with Saudi Arabia with assured delivery every year, Minister of Petroleum and Natural Gas Mani Shankar Aiyar has said.

"The total of India's oil imports from Saudi Arabia will double soon," Aiyar, who is in Riyadh along with a high-level delegation comprising heads of oil companies, Indian Oil Corporation (IOC), Oil and Natural Gas Corporation (ONGC) and Gas Authority of India (GAIL), said yesterday (Mar 28, 2005).

India already imports about 24 million tons of crude from Saudi Arabia every year, which is 26 per cent of India's total crude imports.

"We now want to secure long-term contracts with an assured delivery every year," Aiyar, the first Indian oil Minister to visit the Kingdom, said.

Aiyar is also accompanied by Talmiz Ahmed, Additional Foreign secretary in the Ministry of External Affairs and a former Indian ambassador to the Kingdom.

During his stay in the Kingdom, Aiyer is set to meet Saudi Oil Minister Ali al Ibrahim as well as other senior Ministers. He is also scheduled to visit the Shoiba oilfields of Saudi Aramco.

Aiyar yesterday delivered a lecture on 'Asian Energy Vision,' which was hosted by International Energy Forum (IEF), and attended by a number of Saudi officials, and diplomats.

On the agenda of his talks with Saudi officials in Riyadh, he told the 'Arab News' "the talks with my Saudi counterpart will be in continuation of what we already had in Vienna and Delhi".

He said that India is pursuing acquisition of equity in oil and gas abroad, besides exploration acreages and producing properties.