India’s Minister for Petroleum and Natural Gas Dharmendra Pradhan has said his government is keen to see the Abu Dhabi National Oil Company (Adnoc) participate in building a downstream megaproject the country has planned on its west coast.

Saudi state energy giant Saudi Aramco has announced it would buy a 50 per cent stake in the project to be located in Maharashtra state along India’s Arabian Sea coast.

“India hopes Adnoc will invest in the Maharashtra refinery and petrochemical complex,” Pradhan said at the Downstream Investment Forum in Abu Dhabi, where Adnoc unveiled its own plan to invest $45bn to create an integrated downstream facility in Ruwais.

Indian state refiners Indian Oil Corporation (IOC), Hindustan Petroleum Corporation (HPCL) and Bharat Petroleum Corporation (BPCL) will own the other 50 per cent stake in the downstream project.

Rumours of Aramco diluting some of its stake to Adnoc in the project has been rife. Reports of an agreement to be signed between Adnoc and the Indian companies on 13 May for the Abu Dhabi energy major to invest in a stake, have been doing the rounds.

Saudi Arabia was the biggest oil supplier to India till 2016-17, but slipped behind Iraq last fiscal year that ended on 31 March. The kingdom had supplied 39.5 million tonnes of crude oil to India in 2016-17, ahead of 37.5 million tonnes by Iraq. But, in the first 11 months of 2017-18 fiscal, Saudi supplies at 33.9 million tonnes, lagged behind Iraqi exports of 42.4 million tonnes to India.

The UAE supplies 8 per cent of India’s total oil demand.

According to the International Energy Agency (IEA), India’s oil demand is expected to reach 458 million tonnes by 2040.

IOC has 11 refineries with a total capacity of 81.2 million tonnes, while BPCL has four refineries with a total capacity of 33.4 million tonnes. HPCL has three refineries with a total capacity of 24.8 million tonnes.