The Hon’ble Union Minister of  State Mr. Dharmendra Pradhan has asked the Society of Petroleum Geophysicists  (SPG) India to bring out the topmost 5-6 technological challenges in the field  of exploration of oil and gas. Inaugurating the 11th Biennial International  Conference & Exhibition of the SPG India organized by ONGC at Jaipur today,  Mr. Pradhan promised that the Ministry of Petroleum & Natural Gas will consider these challenges and support for their resolution.

Referring to geoscience  technologies as the key link in improving exploration success for oil and gas  in the country, the Union Minister said there are immense potential in the un-appraised  sedimentary basins. “We need to fast-track exploration, with collective  collaboration between the government and the geoscientific community. This is  only way to reduce our growing dependence on imported oil.”

Petroleum Minister Dharmendra Pradhan inaugurated 11th biennial SPG International Conference and Exhibition at Jaipur on 4 December 2015.

Citing Prime Minister’s call to  reduce import dependence by 10 per cent by 2022 - the 75th anniversary of Indian independence, Mr. Pradhan felt that upstream energy  companies like ONGC are a key component for this energy security, and  Geophysics is one of the most important cogs in the wheel.

Earlier, addressing the  significant turnout of delegates, which included international oil & gas  stalwarts from across the globe, Petroleum Secretary Mr. K D Tripathi opined  that to realize the untapped potential in the Indian sedimentary basins,  geoscientists need to challenge the oil concepts and look for new ones, especially  in the Mannar, Bengal and Andaman deepwaters. Mr. Tripathi, appreciating the  apt theme of the conference ‘Solutions through Technologies, Uncertainty to  Possibility’, asked the geoscientists to create appropriate models to lead from  Uncertainty to Possibility and then to Uncertainty.

SPG 2015 is a Green initiative and all the technical papers as well as proceedings have been provided to delegates in on-the-go pendrive.

In the inaugural session, the Petroleum Minister gave the coveted B S Negi Convention Gold medal, and life time achievement, award to former ONGC Executive Director Mr. Kharak Singh for his yeoman's service in the field of geosciences.

Mr. D K Sarraf, CMD ONGC who is also  the Chief Patron of SPG India, said that while the world petroleum industry is  reeling under the low crude prices, for India it is economically good as India  is a net importer of crude oil. For NOCs like ONGC, it is an opportunity to  build up upstream capacity, leveraging the low service costs and availability  of quality service.”

Mr A K Dwivedi, Director  (Exploration), ONGC patron of SPG India, said that SPG is committed to develop  cutting edge technologies, especially related to seismics, to de-risk the  upstream petroleum industry.

The SPG is affiliated  to the Society of Exploration Geophysics (SEG) of USA and the European  Association of Geoscientists and Engineers (EAGE), The Netherlands. President  Elect of SEG Mr. William L Abriel and Representative of EAGE Ms. Valentina  Socco of EAGE talked of the inclusive work of their associations and their  professional bond with SPG India.

Petroleum Minister Dharmendra Pradhan inaugurating the SPG Exhibition at JECC, Jaipur. From left:ONGC Director (Exploration) A K Dwivedi, ONGC CMD D K Sarraf and Petroleum Secretary K D Tripathi.

The 3-day International  Conference & Exhibition of SPG is being held in Jaipur for the first time.  Apart from sharing petroleum industry best practices, the Exhibition is also  showcasing state-of-the-art technologies by various global oil-field service  providers. The Exhibition also was inaugurated by the Minister.

Issued by
Press & Publicity Committee,
SPG, India