Published: Jan 16, 2007
Nigeria’s Petroleum Minister Edmund Daukoru and top oil officials from several OPEC countries were attending an international conference that opened here Tuesday, seeking to explore exploration and production opportunities in energy-hungry India.
The four-day gathering will focus on investment opportunities in the country’s hydrocarbon sector and the environmental and equity concerns relating to India’s growing demand from energy, Indian Petroleum Secretary M.S. Srinivasan said.
Saudi Oil Minister Ali Naimi, Iran’s Petroleum Minister Kazem Vaziri Hamaneh and Qatar’s energy minister Abdullah bin Hamad Al Attiyah are among the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries ministers attending the conference, said the Oil and Natural Gas Corp., India’s main exploration company, which is hosting the event.
Senior executives from global oil companies such as Royal Dutch Shell and Sinopec are also participating in the conference that is expected to provide a platform for bilateral and corporate deals.
In all, 4,000 delegates are expected to attend the meeting.
“We want to underline the fact that as far as oil and gas is concerned, India is an underexplored nation, not an underendowed nation,” Srinivasan said.
India’s economy needs to secure new energy sources to sustain its 8 percent annual growth. It currently imports three-fourth of the crude oil it processes, with domestic crude production stagnating at around 33 million metric tons a year.
Natural gas available commercially in the country is at present about 90 million cubic meters a day, which is only sufficient to meet 60 percent of domestic demand.
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