Indian Oil Corporation wants to set up a petrochemical plant in Yemen provided it is allocated a gasfield, a senior company official said on Friday.

"Yemen wants to set up a gas-based petrochemical plant and we certainly are interested in participating in it," IOC Director (Business Development) B M Bansal told reporters after Yemen's Minister of Oil and Minerals Khalid Mahfoudh Dahah met Petroleum Minister Murli Deora.

The Yemenese oil minister said his country was open to Indian investment in oil and gas exploration, refineries and pipelines and petrochemical plants. "We welcome Indian companies," he said. 

IOC was planning big forays into petrochemical business and it saw Yemen as an opportunity to expand in the overseas markets, Bansal said.

"We are looking at big investments but we need a gas source for it. We can also build refineries and set up LNG plant if they want," he said.

Dahah invited Deora to visit the Gulf country to further investment proposals of the Indian companies.

"We are proposing a technical cooperation committe between the two governments and Deora has verbally accepted my invitation to visit Yemen within a month's time," he said.

Yemen was open to exporting natural gas to India provided it found more gas reserves. The current 17 trillion cubic feet gas reserve were all committed to domestic and long term consumers overseas, he said.