HYDROCARBON
DISCOVERIES BRIGHTEN PROSEPECTIVITY OF INDIAN SEDIMENTARY BASINS:
RAM NAIK
INDO-US CONFERENCE ON "BUILDING
NATURAL GAS MARKETS IN INDIA" BEGINS
Shri Ram Naik, Minister of Petroleum
& Natural Gas, has said that there are now better prospects of
finding oil and gas in India. This change in the prospectivity
has been brought about over the time with discovery of major fields
such as Ankleshwar in Gujarat, Mumbai High, Ravva in Krishan-Godavari
(KG) Basin, recent deep water discoveries in KG basin and oil
discoveries in Sanchor basin in Rajasthan. Inaugurating the Indo-US
Conference on "Building Natural Gas Markets in India", here today,
Shri Naik said that with the new upgraded data, new geological
concepts and advance data processing facilities, new plays have
been identified in the blocks on offer in New Exploration Licensing
Policy (NELP)-III which were offered for global bidding recently.
The Minister called upon the oil companies from India and abroad
in private or public sector to take advantage of this opportunity
as the growing and one of the largest Indian markets offers attractive
investment destination with liberal and competitive policy in
place. Referring to the growing needs of energy to fuel economic
growth, Shri Naik informed that the hydrocarbon sector meets about
42 per cent of primary energy requirements of the country which
is expected to further increase with the passage of time. By 2025,
the demand for gas would be about 142 billion cubic metres per
annum as against 40 billion cubic metres now. The demand for crude
oil would increase to 368 million tonnes from about 100 million
tonnes presently. The natural gas would form a greater component
of the energy requirements as it is the preferred fuel of the
Century. To meet the increasing demand of gas, Government has
launched aggressive programme for exploration and production within
the country and two rounds of awarding oil and gas blocks have
been completed. The projects are being implemented to import LNG
from Qatar. Import terminals at Dahej in Gujarat with a capacity
of 5 million tonnes and at Kochi in Kerala with 2.5 million tonnes
capacity are being set up. The first shipment of LNG is expected
to arrive by December, 2003. India is also making efforts to import
LNG from Iran and Bangladesh through pipeline. Economic feasibility
of pipeline from Iran is being studied. The Government has approved
a consortium of 3 flagship national oil companies for importing
natural gas from Bangladesh. With Indian Oil as the leader having
48 per cent stake, Gas Authority of India Limited and Oil & Natural
Gas Corporation (ONGC) have stake of 26 per cent each in the consortium.
Speaking about the importance of enhancing Indo-US cooperation
in hydrocarbon sector, Shri Naik expressed confidence that the
two-day conference will result in giving impetus to the friendly
relations of the two countries. He said the main objectives of
the Conference include exploration of areas of cooperation between
the two countries for maxmising oil and gas production in India,
participation by US based companies in exploration and production
activities, cooperation in gas hydrates development programme,
gas-to-liquids technology as also making deepwater exploration
activities cost effective. Referring to the alternative source
of gas, Shri Ram Naik informed that the Government of West Bengal,
ONGC and NTPC have reached an understanding to set up a pit-head
Power Plant in the State based on prospective availability of
Coal Bed Methane (CBM). With this prospects of commercialising
CBM in India are quite bullish. The Indian companies who are taking
part in CBM exploration and production programme can benefit from
the technical know-how and experience of US companies. United
States is the leader in exploitation of CBM in the world. India
has significant potential for tapping CBM as there are abundant
coal reserves in the country. Government has awarded five blocks
under the first round of investor-friendly CBM policy. Two blocks
have been awarded to ONGC and Coal India Limited on nomination
basis and another one to Great Eastern Energy Corporation Limited.
Speaking on the occasion, Ms. Vicky A. Bailey, Assistant Secretary,
US Department of Energy, referred to the long history of cooperation
between US and India in energy sector. She reaffirmed that US
remained committed to work with India to help build better energy
future for its people. She informed that American Companies are
the largest foreign investors in India which makes a great contribution
to Indo-US Energy Cooperation. The US President Bush's National
Energy Policy (NEP) Plan released last May contained a chapter
on international aspects of NEP. The NEP specifically recommended
that US Department of Energy work with India's Ministry of Petroleum
& Natural Gas to help India maximise its domestic oil and gas
production. In this backdrop the Indo-US Conference is an important
occasion to enable a movement forward. The Conference provides
an opportunity for experts to share their knowledge and experiences,
mistakes and successes about regulation of natural gas business
in the US. Ms. Bailey opined that US experience will provide an
opportunity for India to decide what can work best for them. Shri
Santosh Gangwar, Minister of State for Petroleum & Natural Gas,
stated that the US energy policy and India's Hydrocarbon Vision
2025 have a common objective of accelerating growth of Indian
Hydrocarbon sector. As natural gas is expected to play a much
larger role than as of now, the Indian energy market opens up
plenty of opportunities for development of natural gas market.
This requires concerted efforts for development of gas fields
and massive infrastructure for import and storage of LNG and transportation
of natural gas within the country. Referring to rapid strides
made by Indian Petroleum Industry since Independence, Shri Gangwar
said that the production of crude oil has increased from 0.25
million tonnes to about 32 million tonnes per annum now. The refining
capacity went up from 0.3 million tonnes to about 115 million
tonnes per annum during this period. India, he said, has the largest
crude and petroleum pipeline network in South Asia, spanning over
6500 Kms. The world's longest LPG pipeline with a length of 1250
Kms was commissioned recently in India. There is a network of
4000 Kms of natural gas pipeline in the country. Shri B.K. Chaturvedi,
Secretary, Ministry of Petroleum & Natural Gas and Mr. Albert
Thibault, Deputy Chief of Mission, US Embassy in India also spoke
on the need for greater cooperation between India and the US in
hydrocarbon sector.. The two-day conference will focus on supply
options and infrastructure development, future prospects of natural
gas business, non-conventional sources of natural gas, gas-to-liquids
technology sharing US experience on Regulator Body, exploitation
of CBM, etc. The Conference has been jointly organised by the
Ministry of Petroleum & Natural Gas, Government of India and US
Department of Energy.
