As the President and CEO of GE’s multi-billion dollar oil and gas business, Lorenzo Simonelli is best positioned to analyse the impact sliding crude prices have had on the sector globally. But even as projects are put on hold and the sector deals with a slowdown, Simonelli is optimistic about the future of the oil and gas industry. In an interview with BusinessLine , the man who is widely believed to be one of the candidates to succeed Jeff Immelt, spoke about his long-term vision for GE’s oil and gas business and India’s role. Edited excerpts:

Experts are divided on when the oil price will start stabilising. What’s your take?

I am going to leave it to the experts to tell you where the oil price is heading. I think whatever I say is going to be wrong because I am not in a position to predict commodity pricing. But I am in a position to provide equipment from products and service to the industry. At this time, we are hearing from customers that they want us to focus on productivity, managing life cycle costs and make sure we keep them productive. This is a volatile industry. It goes through cycles. We focus on what we control. For GE Oil and Gas, we are focusing on execution of projects at hand.

Given the situation, what would be your outlook for the industry?

You break down to what you know and how things are evolving. You know that energy demand is growing, so from a long-term perspective, there is going to be an ongoing demand for oil and gas. As you look at population growth, industrialisation, emerging middle-class, growth in emerging countries…, there is clearly demand for energy. So, in the long term, we feel good about the industry. Short-term, we know there is more supply than demand. Correction will take place but no one is sure of how long it is going to last. What we are seeing in the industry is a slowdown of projects. We are seeing in North America, for example, significant reduction in rigs. Those cuts and delays in projects will start to impact the production. As supply starts to adjust and demand starts to grow, you will see a balance and the industry go back to normal cycle. We as suppliers focus on investing on technology, people, and staying close to customers.

How has shale gas and the use of renewable energy added to the woes of the oil and gas industry?

We believe you need diversified strategy. You need to be a player in all these areas. Renewables will increase, so will oil and gas, but you will see reduction in coal. In the next 30 years, I still see oil and gas play a large role in the energy market

When do you see a revival of the sector? Even GE has been impacted because of the slowdown, so does it worry you?

I don’t want to predict too far into the future. We have given out estimates for 2015 where we see our revenues impact by 5 per cent. We have given guidance to maintain the business to be flat or slightly down. Over the course of 2015, we see the industry adapting to the environment and then starting to recover as we go into 2016. Our focus is on standardisation of equipment, quality of execution and quality of innovation.

How important are emerging markets like India?

They are important because emerging markets tend to be where resources are. India has a great opportunity from a gas perspective and large energy needs. We want to merge the two and make sure they get developed. We want to be a player here with ONGC to develop the projects, we want to help with the growth.

Would you have liked to have larger investment portfolio in India? Are regulatory issues like gas pricing a hurdle?

From priority perspective, it depends on timing in regulation, the way in which rules get decided and projects come on stream. There is an opportunity for India. Some projects have been discussed in the past and they are imminent now. So it’s about being here at the right time.

As a foreign investor, do you buy into the new government’s intent in India?

There’s a strong belief of cautions optimism. There is a positive momentum, but more needs to be done. We are believers in Make in India. We are strongly investing in measurement and valves here. We have 13,000 employees. India is big for GE.

Do you plan to tap R&D talent in India to develop products for global and local markets?

In GE Oil and Gas, we have 1,400 employees in India. We have significant engineering base who work on local and global solutions.

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