India Hopes to Complete Oil Storage Talks with UAE

India hopes to conclude negotiations with the United Arab Emirates to fill its strategic oil reserves at Mangalore, in southern India, a foreign ministry official said.

Abu Dhabi's Crown Prince Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed al-Nahyan is headed to India week as a guest of honour to the annual Republic Day Parade in a warming of ties. Oil-rich Abu Dhabi has been in discussions to finalise a deal to lease part of India's crude oil storage facilities.

India, which imports about 80 percent of its oil needs, is building emergency storage in vast underground caverns to hold some 36.87 million barrels of crude as it seeks to hedge against energy security risks.

Amar Sinha, Indian foreign ministry official in charge of economic relations, said the two sides were also expected to sign a pact between the UAE's sovereign wealth fund and India's National Investment and Infrastructure Fund.