The Prime Minister
Shri Atal Bihari Vajpayee delivered the keynote address at Petrotech-2003,
here today.
Following is the full text of the
Prime Minister’s address on the occasion:
"To begin with, I
wish all of you a very Happy and Prosperous New Year.
It gives me great
pleasure to be with you today at PETROTECH-2003. I must compliment
the organizers of this Conference for bringing together representatives
from both public and private sector companies, experienced professionals,
eminent scientists, technocrats, economists, environmentalists
and energy experts from India and abroad on a common platform.
This, I am sure, will facilitate useful exchange of ideas, leading
to the expansion of mutual cooperation for long term availability,
equitable distribution and sustainability of energy supplies globally.
Adequate, affordable
and sustainable supply of energy is one of the fundamental parameters
determining the economic growth of any country. Energy is to national
development what oxygen is to human life. All our cherished goals,
which are common to all the countries, such as improving the quality
of life of our citizens and national security, need energy for
their realization.
The converse of this
is also true. The division of the world between developed and
developing countries finds its reflection in the division between
those who have a high per-capita usage of energy and those who
either do not have sufficient energy or cannot harness it. Therefore,
if we want to create a global environment wherein every nation
gets equitable opportunities to grow, the energy resource gap
between developing and developed countries has to be bridged.
The energy requirements
of the Asia Pacific region are rapidly growing. That the bulk
of the world’s population lives in this region is only a part
of the reason for this. A more important reason lies in the rapid
economic growth in this part of the world in recent years. In
this, India and China alone account for nearly half of the total
Asia Pacific demand.
India is one of the
five largest economies of the world in purchasing power parity
terms, and is home to about one-sixth of the world’s population.
We are speedily moving in all areas of development, while zealously
protecting our democratic set-up. Although the per-capita energy
consumption in India is still very low, it is rising quickly.
At the targeted GDP growth rate of 8%, it will grow considerably
in the coming years.
I take this opportunity
to compliment India’s petroleum industry, which has demonstrated
enormous capabilities in both upstream and downstream sectors.
Our oilmen have painstakingly developed it over the past 45 years.
The presence of the Public Sector Undertakings (PSUs) in exploration,
production and marketing of petroleum products has been pre-dominant
in the last four decades.
Nevertheless, we
in India have been cognizant of the challenges of the present
and the future. We are aware of the need to find viable strategies
to explore, produce and refine more from our own hydrocarbon resources.
Without substantial domestic production, the nation would be subject
to the volatility in crude oil supplies and prices and "Oil Security"
would be difficult to achieve.
Therefore, to realize
our objective of giving a greater thrust to efficient exploration,
development, production, refining of our hydrocarbon resources,
and marketing of products, we have opened up this sector for private
and foreign investment. We have encouraged both domestic and international
enterprises to supplement the efforts of our national oil companies.
This is indeed one of the big successes of India’s economic reforms.
Though a strong infrastructure
backs our domestic oil industry, tremendous potential still exists
for international cooperation, especially in the field of hydrocarbon
technology. The India Hydrocarbon Vision-2025 document lays down
the framework for addressing issues such as energy security, use
of alternative fuels, and interchangeability of technology to
ensure that the mix of energy sources used in the economy is optimal
and sustainable and that adequate quantities of economically priced
clean fuels are made available to Indian consumers.
The rapidly growing
demand for petroleum products is making our oil companies to look
to new areas -- both within our territories and outside. In the
petroleum industry, globalisation has provided an opportunity
for India to be a significant center for equipment and services
both in upstream and downstream sectors.
The Petroleum Sector
is, today, finding itself at the crossroads of the global economy.
Security of supplies has become one of the important challenges
that needs to be carefully addressed. It is especially important
for countries that are increasingly dependent on oil imports for
their sustained economic growth.
Crude oil prices
may shoot up if tensions in West Asia rise, leading to a prolonged
shortage of supplies in the world oil market. This may adversely
affect our national economy. Recent developments have already
affected oil markets and sent prices upwards. Therefore, oil security
has come to occupy a key position in the present policy matrix
of our government. We are examining the feasibility of establishing
strategic storage of crude oil and petroleum products in our country
to create a buffer for meeting unforeseen disturbances in the
supply chain and strengthening India’s oil security. We have also
embarked upon a detailed study to identify ways to minimize supply
risk from external sources.
In order to ensure
a healthy and sustained development of the hydrocarbon sector
in the country, we will put in place a transparent and independent
regulatory system. The Petroleum Regulatory Bill is before Parliament,
and we will strive to ensure its early passage.
While exploration
is the key challenge, equally important is the urgent need to
promote conservation of energy to secure economic development.
Increased efficiency in the use of petroleum products offers the
most immediate and cost effective opportunity to reduce resource
consumption. Therefore, energy conservation must become a way
of life in Government, Industry and Society. Some of the steps,
which could help in this endeavor, include proper educational
programs for energy users, fiscal incentives for developing energy-efficient
and environment-friendly technologies, and fiscal measures to
adopt such technologies.
Though petroleum
and its products contribute to socio-economic development globally,
their use has some adverse impacts on the environment. Minimizing
the global impacts is a major challenge in the new century, in
which developed countries, having been responsible for the major
part of the problem, should take the lead. Local environmental
impacts, on the other hand, relate to both developed and developing
countries. India has been pro-active in addressing these, as the
clean air in Delhi today bears testimony.
So far, India has
been more dependent on conventional sources of energy like coal,
hydel, oil, gas and atomic energy. But there is a possibility
that with the harnessing of non-conventional energy sources like
sun, wind, biogas, biomass, agricultural and industrial wastes,
it will be possible to better meet the energy demand of people
living in the countryside and in far-flung hilly, tribal and island
areas. We have one of the world’s largest programmes for promotion
of such non-conventional energy sources.
Distinguished participants,
I cannot overemphasise the importance of R&D for the success
of our efforts. There is an urgent need to switch over to a fresh
approach, which emphasizes innovative and inter-disciplinary research
targeting breakthroughs in new technologies and processes. The
world is also looking for breakthroughs in Green Technologies
to address the environmental concerns arising from energy use.
All these call for greater cooperation among scientists and engineers
from various disciplines and countries. Access to these new petro-technologies
needs to be universal within the framework of a fair and enlightened
Intellectual Property Rights regime.
I hope that PETROTECH-2003
will live up to its promise of being a useful platform for all
the stakeholders – private, national and international -- to foster
and promote global energy cooperation.
With these words,
I wish big success to your conference."
