India's oil demand to jump 40 pc in next 10 yrs: PM

New Delhi, Nov 1 (PTI) Projecting a growth of 40 per cent
in India's oil demand in next decade, Indian Prime Minister
Manmohan Singh Monday stressed on securing energy supplies at
affordable prices to meet requirement of rapidly expanding
economy.
"India needs adequate supplies of energy at affordable
prices to meet the demand of its rapidly growing economy," he
said inaugurating the Petrotech-2010 oil and gas conference
here.
India, which consumed over 138 million tonnes of fuel in
2009-10, imports three-fourth of its oil needs and one-third
of its gas requirement. It imported USD 79.5 billion worth of
159.2 million tonnes of crude oil.
"Demand over the next 10 years will increase by over 40
per cent, whereas the increase in supply from the maturing
(domestic) oilfields is expected to be around 12 per cent," he
said.
Domestic sources are inadequate to meet the increasing
demand for energy. The nation's domestic oil production was
about 34 million tonnes in the last fiscal.
To bridge the shortfall, the government is encouraging
national oil companies to acquire oil and gas fields abroad,
Singh said.
The Prime Minister stressed on building strong economic
partnership with hydrocarbon-rich countries.
Singh said oil and gas Monday are not seen as mere
commodities to be traded freely. "They are often used by
countries to meet their political objectives."
In the last two decades, Asia's share in the growth in
demand for hydrocarbons has risen substantially while that of
the OECD countries and the European Union has declined. "This
shift has been caused by high rates of economic growth and
increasing populations in many Asian countries."
"There are supply-side uncertainties. Many mature fields
are declining in production. Some energy endowed countries
have problems in augmenting production because of various
reasons including lack of the required technology and
political uncertainty," Singh said.
Another challenge, he said, is climate change. "Because
of this challenge, the demand on energy technologies goes
beyond productivity and efficiency issues," he said, calling
for a rethink on the traditional energy basket being loaded in
favour of fossil fuels.
"The concept of a Global Energy Equilibrium (the theme of
Petrotech conference) suggests a matching of demand and supply
of hydrocarbons in a manner which is optimum. However, apart
from the difficulty of defining what an optimum balance would
exactly mean, there are many other factors which have a
bearing on how different countries meet their hydrocarbon
demand," he added. PTI ANZ
PBL


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