Delivering the address at the “Energy Security Conference 2013” organized jointly by the Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) and the Ministry of External Affairs, the chief guest, Mr Vivek Rae, Secretary, Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Gas, Government of India, said, “It is important to deepen and strengthen Research & Development in energy. It is also important to undertake collaborations and capitalise on the synergies amongst the Ministries of Power, Oil and Gas and Renewable Enegy.” Emphasising that there is no policy paralysis in the Oil and Gas sector, he said, “One of the key decisions taken by the Ministry is putting in place a new formula for gas pricing in India which will become operational from 1st April 2014. This is a step towards aligning the domestic natural gas prices with the global prices and nudging the gas price towards import parity prices. The Ministry is also working closely with operators and efforts are being made to streamline the decision making process.” He also stressed on the need for putting in place a fiscal regime that promotes and encourages exploration and production activites as this will give returns in terms of royalty, tax revenues and import substitution. Highlighting some of the issues that are work in progress, he said, “The Ministry is currently working on making available adequate data on the sedimentary basins; skilling the exisiting work force and also harnessing the retired talent available in the country; authorising the private sector to prospect for shale oil and gas within the exisiting contract; and evaluating strategies for stimulating the domestic manufacturing industry for oil rigs and LNG tankers in the country.”
Highlighting three key global energy trends, Mr Prabhat Kumar, (ES & ITP), Ministry of External Affairs, Government of India, said, “India will emerge as the biggest growth center of energy by 2020. While this implies that the Indian economy is likely to continue to grow, there are also questions on how we will pay for this demand given our strong reliance on fossil fuel imports. In addition, some of the biggest energy importers like the US are becoming energy exporters. Finally, the Middle East may become a key consumer of oil and gas and this may affect their export surplus adversely.” Stressing on the need to capitalize on the opportunities presented by these key developments, he said, “The Middle east region presents a huge opportunity for India as this region will be increasingly catering to Asia rather than the Northern Hemisphere. In addition, Sovereign wealth funds in these countries have grown considerably and India can look at collaborations with countries in this region to develop pipelines, petrochemical complexes, etc. In addition, we can capitalize on the strong demand for human resources in this sector both globally and within India. We can invest in our human resources and equip them with the right skill set to enable them to undertake projects in other countries.”
Giving his perspective, Mr Chandrajit Banerjee, Director General, Confederation of Indian Industry, in his welcome remarks said, “Energy Security at the broadest level, is primarily about ensuring the continuous availability of commercial energy at competitive prices to support economic growth and requires a strong focus on both strengthening the domestic energy sources as well as acquisition of energy assets overseas.