Oil majors seek inroads into India's retail fuel market: minister

New Delhi

GLOBAL oil majors including Saudi Aramco and Total plan to tap the retail fuel market in India, its oil minister said on Friday, reflecting the expanding role of the world's fastest-growing large economy on the global crude landscape.

India's fuel markets could be a lucrative prize for the world's oil majors as they seek outlets for their petrol and diesel. India posted the fastest oil demand growth in the world in the first quarter of 2016 and is replacing China as the driver of growth globally, the International Energy Agency said in its latest report. "Saudi Aramco is eager to enter in Indian market, we are finding ways to help them," Oil Minister Dharmendra Pradhan said in Hindi in a live telecast on a government website.