Utkal Reporter
Bhubaneswar|22 Jan 2015
India is keen to partner Africa in the hydrocarbon sector. In the changing scenario of global economy engagements between India and Africa in the field of hydrocarbons have become critical said Union Minister for Petroleum and Natural gas Dharmendra Pradhan . He said this through his inaugural address to the 4th India Africa Hydrocarbons conference in New Delhi on 21 Jan and expressed confidence that India would be an able partner of partner of Africa Nations across the industry value chain.
The Minister said, in the last two decades hydrocarbon sector in Africa is expanding rapidly as also the interest of Indian oil companies in the continent. “As a matter of policy”, said Mr Pradhan “the present Indian government is keen to move towards a geographically diversified energy basket. This has resulted in India’s greater focus on Africa as a vital region for sourcing petroleum products in coming years.”
Africa has witnessed growth of 100% in oil reserves and 55% in gas reserves inducing hope to have its position improved as an exporter of oil as well as of gas. On the other hand India riding a 7% growth rate is becoming a big energy consumer. To the growth of global energy demand India’s contribution will be 25% to make India the single largest contributor to it, said Mr. Pradhan referring International Energy Agency’s World Energy Outlook 2015.
India is an attractive market for crude oil and gases at the same time “it would be an able partner for African nations across the industry value chain. One area of clear promise is the downstream sector, where our core capabilities, downstream technology, would be attractive as we have firmly established ourselves as a strong player in refining and petrochemicals.”
(Ref PIB)
Leave a Reply