COMMENTARY
INTERVIEWS
SPECIALS
CHAT
ARCHIVES

Minister suggests oil companies can invest in Kazakhstan

Minister of Petroleum and Natural Gas V K Ramamurthy today said Indian oil companies could acquire equity stake in upstream projects in oil-rich Kazakhstan as well as form strategic alliances and joint ventures there.

"We would be happy if the Kazakhstan government offers our national oil companies commercially viable projects in petroleum sector, " Ramamurthy said, while giving his inaugural address at the international conference on investment opportunities in Kazakhstan organised by the Confederation of Indian Industry.

Ramamurthy said India had a large petroleum industrial network encompassing every facet of oil and gas business, including exploration, production, refining and marketing.

India, he said, has a growing demand of petroleum products, and imports of crude oil and petroleum products to the country have been increasing. As a result the self-sufficiency level, which had reached a high of 70 per cent dropped to 37 per cent in 1997-98.

To sustain higher levels of growth of the Indian economy, "it would be essential to meet the growing demand for hydrocarbons at the least possible cost. The minister said that while this poses a great challenge, it also offered opportunities to investors.

India is keen to revive and build the 'Great Silk Route'. On the one hand we have Kazakhstan, with estimated reserves of eight billion barrels of oil and 1.84 trillion cubic metres of gas. On the other, we have India, which is among the fastest growing regions in the world in terms of petroleum product consumption, estimated to reach 155 million metric tonnes by 2006.

India, he said, has the sixth largest energy market in the world. Over 40 per cent of our commercial energy requirement is provided by oil and gas. The consumption of petroleum products, which was less than three MMT in 1947 has increased steadily and reached a level of 85 MMT in 1997-98.

It is projected to go up to 113 million tonnes in 2001-02 and 155 million tonnes in 2006-07.These projections do not include demand for liquid fuels to support to support 15,000 MW naphtha power generation.

The demand for petroleum products "is likely to get a further boost from the government's initiatives especially after the structural shift mainly in the infrastructure projects."

Business news