Foreign Companies keen to invest in Indian Oil and Gas Sector: Ram Naik

Some of the main E&P companies, which attended Roadshows and had one-on-one meetings were ExxonMobil, Shell, BG, BP, Unocal, Petronas Carigali, Enterprise Oil, Woodside Energy, Cairn Energy, Premier Oil, Talisman Energy, En Cana Energy, etc.

New Delhi: Ram Naik, Minister of Petroleum & Natural Gas announced here today that there was encouraging response to the promotional roadshows and efforts of exploring and producing more oil and gas in the country would get a further boost. He was speaking to the media persons in New Delhi after completion of the promotional Roadshows for the Third Round of New Exploration Licensing Policy ( NELP-III). The Roadshows were held in Singapore on 28th-29th May, London on 6th – 7th June, Houston, USA on 10th-11th June and in Calgary, Canada on 13th- 14th June in addition to the first Roadshow in New Delhi on 9th April.

A high level Oil Mission led by Ram Naik, Minister of Petroleum & Natural Gas, which included . Santosh Gangwar, Minister of State for Petroleum & Natural Gas, B.K. Chaturvedi, Secretary, (in Houston and Calgary), Naresh Narad, Additional Secretary, (in Singapore and London), Dr. Avinash Chandra, Director General of Hydrocarbons and J.M. Mauskar, Joint Secretary, visited Singapore, London, Houston and Calgary. These Locations were chosen based on the feedback provided by the Marketing Consultants for NELP-III, viz. CWC Associates and Schlumberger, in view of the significant presence of E&P companies at these places.

Naik said that these Roadshows attracted E&P companies, financial institutions, and oilfield service companies. The Singapore Roadshow was attended by 35 E&P and related companies, the London Roadshow by 54 companies, the Houston Roadshow by 71 companies and the Calgary Roadshow by 38 companies. During the roadshows, comprehensive presentations were made on the geology as well as commercial aspects relating to the 27 blocks on offer. They were followed by one-on-one meetings with leading companies. Some of the main E&P companies, which attended Roadshows and had one-on-one meetings were ExxonMobil, Shell, BG, BP, Unocal, Petronas Carigali, Enterprise Oil, Woodside Energy, Cairn Energy, Premier Oil, Talisman Energy, En Cana Energy, etc. They showed keen interest in NELP-III. Naik expressed optimism that this would lead to better competition resulting in aggressive exploration programmes and increased production of oil and gas.

Dwelling upon the response and highlights of the Roadshows, Naik brought out that some of the successful companies in India like Cairn Energy, BG, Niko Resources and ONGC also shared their success stories and experiences about operating in India. Cairn Energy pointed out that they had accreted oil and gas reserves of over 70 million metric tonne over the last 3 years and found the environment in India very conducive for expanding their investments. BG expressed that they have a long term plans for Indian oil and gas market and were looking at an ever expanding horizon for investing. BG, who have already invested about US$ 400 million in India, announced their plans to add another US$ 600 million in future. Niko Resources stated that the working culture in India has now become extremely positive and their anticipated returns have increased substantially. Investment bankers JP Morgan and internationally reputed consultants Ernst & Young also presented separately their perception of country profile, investment climate, risk factors about India etc. during the Roadshows. This had a positive impact on improving investor perceptions regarding India.

Naik further stated that a new dimension added to these Roadshows was the active participation of the Governments of U.K, U.S.A. and Canada to encourage companies in their countries to participate in NELP-III and assure them of their full support. They highlighted the strong cultural and trade relationship with India. While Mr. David Warren, Director International Group, Department of Trade & Industries, Government of U.K. and Ms. Vicky Bailey, Assistant Secretary of State, Department of Energy, Government of USA addressed the Roadshows in London and Houston respectively; Mr. Herb Dhaliwal, Federal Minister for Natural Resources, Government of Canada and Mr. Mark Norris, Minister for Econmic Development, Government of Alberta organised receptions to the Indian Mission in which leading captains in the oil industry were invited in a good number. During the London Roadshow, Mr. David Warren stated that U.K. Government fully supported and encouraged U.K. companies to come forward and invest in India.

Ms. Vicky Bailey in her Houston Roadshow address stressed that the US department of Energy in its Energy Policy Report has recommended India as one of the focus countries for investment. She also exhorted upon investors to make full use of the attractive fiscal terms and participate not only in NELP but also the Coalbed Methane (CBM) offers that are likely to come up in future. Interacting with the investor community at Calgary receptions both the Ministers Mr. Dhaliwal and Mr. Norris encouraged companies to look at the offer of blocks under NELP-III and to seize the opportunities opened up in the Indian hydrocarbon sector.

"There is appreciation in the global oil industry about the progress made and initiatives taken by the Government of India in hydrocarbon sector in the last three years. This would certainly reflect in the bids, the last date of their receipt being the 28th August 2002," said Naik .(keralamonitor.com)

George Fernandes flagged in the Indian Army Annapurna-1 Expedition team at Vigyan Bhawan today.

On 06th May 2002, at 0720 hrs a glorious chapter was added to the history of Indian mountaineering when four army mountaineers stood on its top considered to be more hazardous than even Everest.Annapurna-1 located in Central Nepal Himalaya measuring 8091 metres is one of the fourteen eight thousand metre high peaks in the world and has been scaled by a very few till date possibly due to frequent avalanches and very high degree of difficulty.

On 15 Mar 2002 General S Padmanabhan, Chief of the Army Staff flagged off the 17 member Army team led by Lt Col S C Sharma. The expedition Base Camp is located about 10 days walk from the road head Beni. Beni to Base Camp is an arduous route and requires about 1000 metres of rope to secure the route. The route ahead of base Camp to Summit is full of rock falls, glaciers, crevasses, steep ice walls, and waist deep soft snowfields, which make climbing a nightmarish experience. The route beyond summit camp is exposed to such high velocity winds that the first team though very close to summit had to retreat back on 03 May.

A small team of four men was thereafter selected to make another summit attempt on 05 may 2002. At 2300 hrs on a windless and starlit night the team was able to scale the summit on 06 May at 0720 hrs and that too without the aid of bottled oxygen. Sub Lalit Kumar Negi, Hav CN Bodh, SC, Nk Rajendra Singh and Rfn Jagat Singh thus became the first Indians to stand on the summit of Annapurna-1. The efforts of this team will go down in the annals of mountaineering history because this route will henceforth be referred to as Indian Route.