The Hindu Business Line : `Oil producing, consuming nations need to work together'

Mr Murli Deora, Minister of Petroleum and Natural Gas in his address at the third OPEC international seminar at Vienna made an appeal for greater cooperation between oil producing and consuming nations to ensure sustainable development, meet the millennium development goals leading to better lives for the global population.

He said that India was committed to affordable cooking fuels and energy to vulnerable sections of society. In order to reduce India's dependence on imported oil, the Minister said the country had accelerated its efforts to explore domestic oil and gas, commercialisation of alternative fuels, re-orientation in energy mix, and acquisition of overseas oil fields.

The Petroleum Minister said that the trends in energy consumption indicate that by 2030 the world would be consuming 70 per cent more energy than today. Most of this energy would come from oil and gas, he said adding that though a shift away from oil and gas had already happened due to high oil prices in the last three years, yet about 60 per cent of total energy would continue to come from these sources.

Increasingly, the consumers of the world seem to be choosing other sources of energy, particularly coal, renewable sources and nuclear power generation. There are also efforts to conserve energy and improve efficiency in consumption wherever possible, he added.

Referring to the high oil prices, the Minister informed the meeting that India's import bill was likely to shoot up from about $21 billion in 2003-04 to about $66 billion in 2006-07. "Collectively we would have paid an additional $45 billion in 2006-07 for oil imports. These funds could have been utilised in funding primary education, improving maternal health, eradicating poverty and reducing child mortality," he said.

More Stories on : Petroleum

Article E-Mail :: Comment :: Syndication :: Printer Friendly Page