Prime Minister Shri
Atal Bihari Vajpayee informed that the Government is examining
the feasibility of establishing strategic storage of crude oil
and petroleum products in the country. This will create a buffer
for meeting unforeseen disturbances in the supply chain and strengthen
India’s oil security. Shri Vajpayee said this while delivering
the keynote address at Petrotech-2003, here today. Referring to
recent developments in the world oil market which has resulted
in high oil prices, he said that oil security has come to occupy
a key position in the present policy matrix of the government.
Stating that the security of supply is one of the challenges for
countries increasingly dependent on oil imports, Shri Vajpayee
informed that India has embarked upon a detailed study to identify
ways to minimise supply risk from external sources. The Prime
Minister added that rapidly growing demand for petroleum products
is making Indian oil companies to look to new areas -- both within
and outside the country. Globalisation in the sector has provided
an opportunity for India to be a significant centre for equipment
and services both in upstream and downstream sectors.
Referring to the
need for adequate, affordable and sustainable supply of energy
for the economic growth of the country, Shri Vajpayee said energy
is needed for realising the goals of improving the quality of
citizen’s life and for national security. He said the division
of the world between developed and developing countries is reflected
through those who have a high per-capita usage of energy and those
who either do not have sufficient energy or cannot harness it.
Therefore, he called for bridging the energy resource gap between
developing and developed countries for creating an equitable global
environment. Referring to the rapidly growing energy requirements
of the Asia Pacific region, Shri Vajpayee said that India and
China alone account for nearly half of the total Asia Pacific
demand. India with one of the five largest economies of the world
and home to about one-sixth of the world’s population is recording
rapid increase in its per-capita energy consumption which is low
at present. The targeted 8% GDP growth rate would further considerably
raise the energy consumption level. Calling upon the oil sector
to find out viable strategies to explore, produce and refine more
from our own hydrocarbon resources, the Prime Minister emphasised
that the nation would be subject to the volatility in crude oil
supplies and prices and "Oil Security" would be difficult to achieve.
Shri Vajpayee termed the encouragement given to both domestic
and international enterprises to supplement the efforts of national
oil companies in different areas of hydrocarbon operations as
one of the big successes of India’s economic reforms.
Speaking on the occasion,
Shri Ram Naik, Minister of Petroleum & Natural Gas, said that
the efforts of the Government are aimed at enhancing oil security,
price reasonableness, and customer benefits by providing a level-playing
field and increasing competition in petroleum sector. This is
in accordance with the vision charted out in India Hydrocarbon
Vision 2025 which was conceived by Shri Vajpayee, as announced
by him while inaugurating the Petrotech 99 in that year. He further
said that impetus has been given for exploration on the upstream
side. So far 70 Blocks have been awarded in three years under
New Exploration Licensing Policy (NELP) as compared to only 22
blocks in the previous 10 years. Now, a total of about 0.72 million
square Km. area, which is about 72% of the total area under exploration
is covered by NELP. This thrust has started showing results with
a major discovery of natural gas by M/s Reliance-Niko Consortium
in the Krishna Godavari basin and discovery of gas by M/s Niko
Resources in Gujarat and M/s Cairn Energy in Krishna Godavari
Basin. Oil security has been enhanced by acquisition of equity
stake by ONGC Videsh Limited (OVL) in the Sakhalin Project in
Russia and Greater Nile Project in Sudan. The production of gas
has started from OVL’s Vietnam Gas Field only in December 2002.
On this occasion,
the Prime Minister has also gave away the Petrotech Lifetime Achievement
Awards to Padmashri A.B. Das Gupta, Padmashri N.V. Prasad and
late Shri Dhirubahai Ambani for their enormous contribution to
the growth of oil sector in the country. Besides other dignitaries,
Mr. Abdulla Bin Hammed Al Attiya, Minister of Energy and Industry
of the State of Qatar and President OPEC was also present at the
Key Note Session.
Later in the day,
while delivering the inaugural address at Petrotech 2003 – Special
Session on the "Challenges in Retail", held at FICCI Auditorium,
Shri Naik said that he was very happy to see for the first time
the addition of a new track that focused on creating new avenues
of business for the 19,000 Retail Outlets and about 7,750 LPG
Agencies. Shri Ram Naik reminded that the retail service should
focus on value-added services in addition to ensuring supply of
right quality and quantity of the product. Shri Naik said that
by adding the segment on retail business in oil sector as part
of Petrotech Conference, the event has embraced the entire chain
of activities in oil sector. Shri Naik complemented BPCL for their
successful "Pure for Sure", IOC’s "Q & Q" (Quality & Quantity),
HPCL branding its Retail Outlets as "Club HP" as also for their
branded products like "SPEED", "POWER" and "PREMIUM" floated respectively
by BPCL, HPCL and IOC. He called upon strengthening the retailers
in the era of competition as they are considered the weakest and
the most important link in the entire hydrocarbon sector as they
are the people who come in direct contact with the end-users of
the products and services.
