NEW DELHI, JULY 12, 2017: MINISTER of State for Petroleum and Natural Gas Dharmendra Pradhan met his counterpart, Turkish Energy Minister Berat Albayrak at the 22nd World Petroleum Congress at Istanbul, Turkey. Mr. Pradhan chaired a Ministerial Session on the subject “Current Economic Strategies in Indian Oil & Gas Sector”. He also chaired a Plenary Session on ‘Supply and Demand Challenges for Oil, Gas and Products'.

Later, the Minister launched an event on Hydrocarbon Exploration & Licensing Policy (HELP) as a part of process of promoting the upcoming oil & gas bidding rounds in India.  The event was attended by Mr Bob Dudley, Group CEO, BP; Mr Daniel Yergin Vice President IHS Markit; Mr Fatih Birol, Executive Director of IEA; Dr Sun Xianseng, Secretary General, IEF and other Officials.

Addressing the plenary session, Mr Pradhan said that rising middle class of emerging Asian countries like India will drive the demand for energy both in terms of electricity and cooking and transportation fuel. As incomes rise, demand for petrochemicals the raw materials for several of the lifestyle products will also increase. Giving example of India he said that the energy consumption is expected to grow to almost double by 2035. India is the only country where the demand will continue to rise for more than a decade.

He flagged the importance of “Responsible Price” for crude oil for countries like India which would allow it to provide energy to the common people. He underlined that in today's oversupplied market, it is important for producers to understand the perspective of consumers and demand centres and the changes that have taken place in these demand centres. As the security of supplies is an important factor for consumers, security of demand is equally important for producers.