Inaugural Address
by External Affairs Minister Shri Pranab Mukherjee
at the Petrotech Conference – 2007
(New Delhi; January 16, 2007)
My colleague & friend, Shri Murli Deora, Hon’ble Minister for Petroleum &
Natural Gas,
Excellencies, Distinguished delegates, ladies & gentlemen,
It is a great privilege and pleasure for me to join you here at the Inaugural
Session of Petrotech-2007, the 7th International Oil & Gas Conference and
Exhibition.
During these last 12 years, the Petrotech series of conferences and associated
events have periodically brought together a wide-ranging array of major players
in the field of energy and hydrocarbon, from both
India and abroad. The event has
proven its success and usefulness in showcasing India’s advances in energy
sector, as also the challenges and opportunities before her, enhancing our
interaction with the rest of the world for mutual benefit, and in addressing
some of the major topical global concerns. Renowned, erudite, and eminent
policy-makers, administrators, scientists & technologists, managers, and
traders, who congregate biennially for these events, have endorsed their support
and approval through their increasing and stronger participation progressively.
A most welcome feature of the
Petrotech this year is the conclave of 11 distinguished petroleum ministers from
countries representing OPEC and other producers as well as consumers. To the
visiting dignitaries, as well as to all distinguished delegates here, I extend
my greetings and welcome.
I also wish to take this opportunity to congratulate Shri Murli Deora, and his
collaborators from India’s hydrocarbon sector, and in particular Oil and Natural
Gas Corporation, for organising such an impressive mega international event, in
a sector of over-arching importance, along with a series of other focused
deliberations on some specific themes, and organizing an international
exhibition and a Buyer-Seller Meet.
Excellencies, ladies & gentlemen,
The Petrotech themes have been topically relevant, just as the contemporaneously
apt theme this year is, ‘Energy, Economy, Equity, & Environment’. Energy is a
prime mover for the world’s economy, indeed for the mankind and the society as a
whole. For the continued well-being and growth of economy of a country or
society, energy is the most critical factor. Equity among countries at various
stages of development, equity among producing and importing-consuming economies,
equity among various users be they industry or the common man, is a sine qua non
for our collective benefit. And in this age of ever growing threats to our
fragile environment, the imperatives of sustainable development can be ignored
only at our own peril. Each of these four areas impinges on the others, in a
complex matrix as it were. The theme of Petrotech-2007 interweaves these four
major areas of global concern in a balanced and integrated approach. The
challenge is to meet the energy needs of all segments of people in an efficient
and affordable manner ensuring long-term sustainability and environment
protection.
From the primeval age when man
discovered to make fire, energy, in its myriad forms, has been vital to us, and
therefore subject of complex interplay. Its intricacies and exigencies have now
grown manifold. In our globalising world today, given energy’s crucial place in
the scheme of things, global cooperation and understanding in energy, for all
its facets, and at all its levels, is essential and inescapable. ‘Oil diplomacy’
must remain harnessed with a view to balancing and harmonising various
interests, occasionally somewhat or seemingly contradictory, such as those
between producers and consumers. I say ‘seemingly’ advisedly, for there is in
reality a natural alliance between the producers and the consumers, both being
two sides of the same coin, in a relationship of mutual dependence and
cooperation.
The presence here of several oil ministers from a range of countries, including
OPEC, as well as other distinguished representatives, is an encouraging evidence
of these concerns, thoughts, and the spirit of mutual cooperation being shared
widely.
Excellencies, ladies & gentlemen,
With accelerating economic growth rates, particularly in this part of the world,
including India,
the global energy consumption pattern is set for a significant evolution with
attendant wide-ranging repercussions. Our own economy is now growing at 8-9
percent annually. We aim to raise it to double digits within the next five
years. This would translate into our energy needs growing many times in the
years to come. Hydrocarbons already account for about 45 percent of India’s
total energy requirement, and 70 percent of this is imported. By 2025 India’s
hydrocarbons requirement is set for a 4-fold increase. The need for rapidly
increasing imports, coupled with a trend of robust price escalation, is
therefore an area of paramount importance and concern to a country like India.
Wider and more intensive
exploration for new finds, more efficient and effective recovery, a more
rational and optimally balanced global price regime – as against the rather wide
upward fluctuations of recent times, and a spirit of equitable common benefit in
global energy cooperation, are major instruments in a strategy towards this
objective.
In recent years, particularly starting with the launch of our major economic
reforms process in 1991, India has made concerted efforts to build a vibrant and
efficient oil sector in the country. Our UPA Government’s policy pertaining to
energy and the hydrocarbon sector clearly prioritised, and I quote, “…(to)
immediately put in place policies and enhance the country’s energy security
particularly in the area of oil. Overseas investments in the hydrocarbon
industry will be actively encouraged. An integrated energy policy linked with
sustainable development will be put in place.” Unquote.
Sustained efforts are accordingly being undertaken to strengthen the energy
sector with petroleum & natural gas at the forefront of the policy initiatives.
Our ‘India Hydrocarbon Vision–2025’ laid down the framework for this, with a
view to achieving country’s long-term energy security. The policy has triggered
a more definitive paradigm shift towards free market and competition, with
increasing private sector and overseas participation in all important segments
of our hydrocarbon sector. Ever more areas and opportunities for investment,
technology and entrepreneurship are now open for the global players as well as
for India’s
own public and private sectors. Bulk of the oil & gas potential of the Indian
basins still remain locked up. The resounding success of these policy measures
was already evident in the interest and confidence shown by the variety and
numbers of participation in our recent new exploration licensing round.
With time hydrocarbons has
evolved from being a consumer industry to now a high-tech industry.
Technological innovations and upgradations are vital for improved exploration,
conversion of prognosticated resources into in-place resources, and for more
efficient and effective recovery. Equally, affordable availability widely of new
technologies needs to be facilitated deliberately. Besides spurring economic
development more universally, a collaborative and inclusive approach will
benefit all partners, such as by environment protection.
In India,
too, like elsewhere, we need to ensure that our current accelerating economic
growth process is not constrained by energy paucity. Energy security must remain
a prime objective of our policies and all-round efforts. We are moving towards
this through intensification of indigenous exploration, bringing in more ‘equity
oil’ from overseas, improving the recovery by leveraging advances in
technologies and professional management, and tapping emerging areas like coal
gasification.
Greater availability of energy resources must be accompanied by equally
sustained efforts for their more efficient use. Conservation through more
rational use, application of innovative technologies, and a fundamental
rethinking of energy strategy are the need of the day in the face of ever-higher
energy consumption levels.
Yet another challenge before us
is to reduce and manage adverse environmental impact of enhanced production and
consumption of oil & gas. The alternative is disruption of the balance in nature
and ecosystems, a sobering prospect of doom. The growing levels of air
pollution, adverse climate change, and global warming already pose a threatening
spectre. Besides, the environmental damages also otherwise impact the economy
adversely – assessed to an extent of 10 % of GDP. This too calls for global
cooperation, by way of bridging the knowledge gap, active interaction and
cooperation between energy and environment agencies, and adoption of
environmental technologies, as a matter of serious urgent attention for
restoring and retaining our world as a ‘green planet’.
Even without the adverse environmental impact of burning fossil fuels,
hydrocarbons are but a perishable, finite source of energy. Redoubled, sustained
efforts are required to develop new, alternative, and renewable sources of
energy at an affordable cost. Wind, solar, geo-thermal, biomass, hydrogen, and
nuclear energy sources are already at various stages of development. The
scenario for some of these sources evolving to a level where they can
effectively supplement, even supplant, hydrocarbons is distinctly on the
horizon, and we need to considerably enhance our investment and efforts for
their materialization. As a country with tremendous and growing scientific and
technological R&D capability, India will continue to play an ever important role
in shaping the future course of energy science globally, and in particular in
the development of alternative sources of energy. This capital city of India is
a justifiably boastful pioneer in operating the world’s largest
environment-friendly CNG-run public transport system.
Excellencies, ladies & gentlemen,
This Petrotech series of oil & gas conferences and exhibitions has come a long
way in providing a global platform to all stake-holders for interaction and
sharing of knowledge and experience, in a collegial approach to addressing some
of the most vital global concerns. These are major challenges of our times, but
it is for us to grab them as opportunities with both hands. The present forum
provides such an opportunity. I am confident the deliberations and interface at
the event this year will progress very significantly towards its objectives.
I wish the Conference all success. With this I declare Petrotech-2007 open.
Jai Hind.