Bringing together hydrocarbon sector across the value chain

Will the 12th edition of Petrotech-2016 remain just a legacy event or will Minister of State (Independent Charge) Dharmendra Pradhan be able to strike some deals — as a consumer and strengthen the country’s energy security?

The event, which kicks off on Monday, is taking place at a time when OPEC has decided to cut output, resulting in crude oil prices moving up. The trend has been that whenever oil prices have moved up, gas prices have followed suit. In the given backdrop, how successful Pradhan is remains to be seen.

This year’s Petrotech conference, to be inaugurated by Prime Minster Narendra Modi, aims to explore areas of growth across the value chain of the petroleum and natural gas industry.

The government has invited 49 ministers from Europe, CIS, MENA, Africa, Latin America and the Caribbean, South East Asia, North America and South Asia. Of these, oil and energy ministers of Nigeria, Russia, Qatar, Iraq, and Saudi Arabia, among others have confirmed they will attend the event. The newly-appointed Secretary General of the OPEC Mohammad Sanusi Barkindo will be a part of the conference.

The second day of the conference will feature a Ministerial Gas Forum of the International Energy Forum (IEF) and International Gas Union (IGU) with the theme ‘Gas for Growth’. The conference will also host an exclusive pre-event programme on ‘Women in the hydrocarbon industry’.

Pradhan said: “The story of the Indian oil and gas sector is a story of interdependence, with 81 per cent of our oil requirement and about 37 per cent of gas requirement being imported.”

He also said that Petrotech has been conceived as a platform where Ministers, experts, CEOs and regulators can converge to forge mutually beneficially engagement.

At the curtain-raiser press conference, he added: “India aspires to get $100 billion investment in the oil and gas sector by 2022, and events like Petrotech provide synergies for all sub-sectors. The participants would get a global networking opportunity.”

The conference is expected to see the participation of over 100 speakers and 6,000 delegates from 68 countries. The attendees will vary from technologists, scientists, planners and policy-makers, management experts, entrepreneurs, service-providers and vendors. The event will be accompanied by a parallel exhibition.

Commenting on the initiative to encourage women in the hydrocarbon sector, Indian Oil Corporation Chairman B Ashok said, “We believe that women are one of the greatest contributors to the economic development of India and it is extremely important to encourage women participation in every industry.”

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