Tuesday, December 6, 2011

Petroleum Minister Highlights Investment Opportunities in Indian Hydrocarbon Sector at First Ministerial Session at the 20th WPC

India keen to have more Qatar like relationships to Source LNG : Reddy Need to consider establishing position limits and moving OTC activity on to regulated exchanges to check volatility

Shri Jaipal Reddy Inaugurates Indian Pavilion at WPC Exhibition


Indian Petroleum Minister Shri S Jaipal Reddy who is leading Indian delegation to participate in the 20th World Petroleum Congress(WPC) elaborated tremendous investment opportunities in Indian oil and gas sector. Speaking at the First Ministerial Session of WPC at Doha today, he underlined that the prospectively of Indian sedimentary basins, a large unexploited resource base, scope for infusion of technology across the value chain, expanding pipeline infrastructure, upcoming City gas distribution networks, availability of skilled manpower, well established independent judiciary and a stable democratic government are the key attractive features for investment in our country. Several Fortune 500 companies in public and private sector with high technological capabilities provide great opportunism to forging partnerships. The Minister pointed the progress made across hydrocarbon value chain. “Our hydrocarbon sector offers immense opportunities for investments and reaping benefits. The liberal and investor-friendly policies, a developing economy with a fast growing energy market have made many companies to take notice of the potential.”, Shri Reddy added.

Speaking about the success of New Exploration Licensing Policy (NELP), the Minister informed that the process of award exploration blocks of 9th bid round will be concluded in the near future. And added that more than two dozen foreign companies are working in E&P sector which include global majors.

Shri Reddy informed that realizing that growing Indian economy requires massive energy inputs, our LNG regasification capacity is being expanded. India looks for long-term sourcing of LNG with the producers of LNG. Our companies are also looking for investment opportunities in LNG plants in producer nations. Qatar has been our long time partner country in this area. We are keen to have more such relationships.

The Minister also re-iterated his emphasis that unregulated over-the-counter (OTC) transactions and trading in ``paper barrels``, along with unbridled speculation activity were to be blamed for unprecedented price rise of 2008. I also advocated that, we need to consider establishing position limits and moving OTC activity on to regulated exchanges. While these changes may come in future,

Earlier Mr. Reddy inaugurated the India Pavilion in the Exhibition arena of WPC. The Energy Ministers of Qatar and UAE as well from other countries visited the Indian Pavilion which showcases latest developments in the oil and gas sector of India. Pavilion has been received well at the Exhibition. India also recorded major success as its candidates won elections for different posts in WPC committees. Mr. Dependra Pathak, Director Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Gas, was elected as member Congress Programme Committee for 21st world Petroleum Congress. Ms Vasudev, Director HR of HPCL was elected Vice President youth & gender, executive committee of world Petroleum council.

Following is the text of Shri Jaipal Reddy’s Speech at the First Ministerial Session:

“I am happy and impressed by the development in this very young country, Qatar, within 30 years of its independence. Doha lives up to its reputation of being, Ad Doha; the big tree of Qatar. The significance of the tree is very aptly depicted in this newly built magnificent venue. I warmly compliment the host Qatar, and the organizers, for the excellent arrangements of the 20th World Petroleum Congress.

The economic pressures the world is experiencing have affected the progress in several developed and developing nations. Recovery from these pressures and getting on the path of development might take longer. India, being the largest democracy and a major energy consumer of the world, faces the uncertainties of global energy market in terms of oil prices and it’s impact on inflation.

3. The growth momentum built over the last few years in India helped us in avoidance of the financial crisis that impacted much of the developed world. However, we have been affected by the economic slowdown in other countries. For an emerging economy like India, higher oil prices lead to higher inflation. Net oil importing countries such as India experience deterioration in their balance of payments and downward pressure on exchange rates. As a result, the task of securing energy becomes difficult as the prices move upward.

I believe that pressure of oil prices prevails mainly in the developing world and is reflected widely in their economic growth. In this context, at the IEF meeting in Riyadh, early this year, I emphasized that unregulated over-the-counter (OTC) transactions and trading in ``paper barrels``, along with unbridled speculation activity were to be blamed for unprecedented price rise of 2008. I also advocated that, we need to consider establishing position limits and moving OTC activity on to regulated exchanges. While these changes may come in future, our government in India has taken up programs to provide energy to our people at affordable prices.

India’s crude oil production is expected to reach about 38 million tonnes (MMT) in 2011-12. The balance recoverable reserves from the known oil and gas reservoirs are about 2041 million tonnes. The incremental oil production in recent years is largely from Barmer fields in Rajasthan, and in case of gas, it is from Krishna Godavari Basin. The production of natural gas in the current year is expected to be slightly more than 50 billion cubic meters (BCM).

The liberalized policy environment through policies in the nineties and the New Exploration Licensing Policy(NELP) of Government of India have been instrumental in bringing about incremental growth in oil and gas production. NELP has created a conducive level playing field for all companies in the sector. 100% Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) has been permitted in exploration and production of oil and gas. Our objective is to rapidly increase the extent of area explored from the present 65% to 100% by the year 2015. With this in view, we have so far held 9 bid rounds. An investment of US $ 16.5 billion has been made in exploration and production activities. The process of award of 9th bid round will be concluded in the near future. More than two dozen foreign companies are working in E&P sector which include global majors.

The investor-friendly policies of our government have been able to attract significant investments in the petroleum sector. In the last one year, two major investment decisions made by major company’s viz. BP and Vedanta in blocks held by RIL and Cairn respectively have re-established faith in the hydrocarbon potential in India. While RIL-BP consortium has stated that its investments in exploration and marketing would be up to US $20 billion, Vedanta’s acquisition costs are likely to be about US $8 billion excluding future investments.

In addition to the accelerated domestic efforts, to enhance oil and gas production, our companies ONGC Videsh Limited (OVL) and other Oil Public Sector Undertakings have taken exploration acreages abroad. Indian companies are present in 20 countries. OVL has produced about 9 million tonnes of oil and gas from its overseas assets. In this effort, our companies have established strong partnerships with major and medium sized companies of other countries.

Our refinery sector has seen phenomenal growth in recent years. The installed capacity which was at 62 million tonnes in 1998 has increased to 193 million tones in 2011. This will be further increased to 232 million tones by 2012. This has enabled us to become an exporter of petroleum products to the tune of 59 million tones valued at $ 43 billion. Our refineries have invested $ 7 billion in the last 4 years in processes to produce greener fuels with lower emissions.

India’s coal reserves, fourth largest in the world, are prognosticated to hold about 92 trillion cubic feet (TCF) of Coal Bed Methane (CBM). Exploration and production of CBM has commenced in India. Amongst other unconventional sources of gas, we are exploring possibilities in shale gas and gas hydrates.

Growing Indian economy requires massive energy inputs. Realizing this, our LNG regasification capacity is being expanded. India looks for long-term sourcing of LNG with the producers of LNG. Our companies are also looking for investment opportunities in LNG plants in producer nations. Qatar has been our long time partner country in this area. We are keen to have more such relationships.

LPG coverage is being enhanced in rural areas. The over-all LPG coverage is being increased from 57% to 75% of the population by providing 55 million new LPG connections by 2015.

Thus, our hydrocarbon sector offers immense opportunities for investments and reaping benefits. The liberal and investor-friendly policies, a developing economy with a fast growing energy market have made many companies to take notice of the potential. The presence of several Fortune 500 companies in the public sector and well established private sector companies with high technical capabilities provide great opportunities for forging partnerships. The prospectively of Indian sedimentary basins, a large unexploited resource base, scope for infusion of technology across the value chain, expanding pipeline infrastructure, upcoming City gas distribution networks, availability of skilled manpower, well established independent judiciary and a stable democratic government are the key attractive features for investment in our country.

The theme of this Congress is “Energy Solutions for all – Cooperation, Innovation and Investment”. I have highlighted many underlying elements of this theme from our perspective which provides a framework for cooperation with other countries in various facets of energy sector. India remains eager and committed to develop energy solutions in co-operation with other countries.”

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