Petrotech 2019 organized by ONGC, conducted its first Ministerial Session on ‘Collaborating for a sustainable and secure energy access for all’ with Hon’ble Minister of Petroleum & Natural Gas and Skill Development & Entrepreneurship Mr. Dharmendra Pradhan, along with Hon’ble Minister of Mines & Petroleum, Afghanistan Ms. Nargis Nehan, Advisor of Energy, Power and Mineral Resources to the Prime Minister of Bangladesh Mr. Tawfiq-e-Elahi Chouwdhury, Hon’ble Minister of Energy and Mineral Resources of Kazakhstan Mr. Kanat Bozumbayev, Hon’ble Minister of  Energy and Public Utilities Mauritius Mr. Ivan Leslie Collendavelloo, Hon’ble Minister of Industry Commerce and Supplies of Nepal Mr. Matrika Prasad Yadav. Through Petrotech, several countries have come together to shape the new energy world.

Mr. Dharmendra Pradhan talked about the recent changes taking place in the hydrocarbon industry and its impact on the world. He addressed the gathering by discussing about Petrotech, which serves as a platform to discuss about attainable and sustainable energy and also forecasted the future of the energy sector at large. India’s hydrocarbon industry is expected to expand by 7.5% in the coming two years beating China. The energy industry is essential to support the fast-growing economy of the country of the world. India has joined the league of UK and Norway with respect to the oil and natural gas sector. There has been a huge shift in the industry i.e., pricing of natural gas has been modified by the Government of India and new policies have been introduced along with acquiring stakes in the hydrocarbon industry in the Middle East for the first time, along with long-term value.

Hon’ble Minister Dharmendra Pradhan addressing the gathering at Petrotech 2019

Moderator at the first Ministerial Session, Senior Director of Boston Consulting Group Center for Energy Impact Mr. Jamie Webster said that technology policies and collaboration is the key to increase the energy sphere.. He also mentioned about success stories like Rural Electrification Program in India and Expansion of Liquid Petroleum Gas and that WHO has declared statistics of globally half a million deaths per year due to solid/gas waste in India.

Mr. Dharmendra Pradhan exclaimed that the Government has provided energy justice to all citizens of India. Half a Million women were adversely affected due to domestic pollution. This acted as an alert to achieve betterment of the concerned situation resulting in Indian households receiving clean cooking fuel. 0.6 Million villagers are connected by continuous electricity and the Indian Government has plans to connect each household with continuous electricity and clean cooking fuel. Mr. Pradhan along with the Hon’ble Prime Minister aims to work towards a global commitment of energy justification, to fulfil the dream of ‘Sabke Saath Sabka Vikas.’

Her Excellency, Hon’ble Minister of Mines & Petroleum of Afghanistan Ms. Nargis Nehan began her talk with expressing gratitude and stated the importance of worldwide collaboration of the hydrocarbon industry. She also added that Afghanistan is putting a lot of emphasis on reusing energy. She spoke about Turkmenistan-Afghanistan-Pakistan-India Pipeline (TAPI) and its essence of collaborating with other nations.

Advisor of Energy, Power and Mineral Resources to the Prime Minister of Bangladesh Mr. Tawfiq-e-Elahi Chouwdhury stated that developing countries need to be creative and innovative in solving problems of the hydrocarbon industry.

Hon’ble Minister of Energy and Mineral Resources of Kazakhstan Mr. Kanat Bozumbayev spoke about success story of Kazakhstan’s oil and gas industry. Kazakhstan intends to initiate a Future Growth Project namely, Kashagan. It also has a network for supply of oil from Russia to China.

Hon’ble Minister of Industry Commerce and Supplies of Nepal Mr. Matrika Prasad Yadav concluded the session by inviting potential investors for the International Conference on 29 March 2019 on sustainability. The Hon’ble Minister also talked about the three global targets i.e., universal access, development and improvement of energy efficiency and improvement of renewable energy. Nepal also collaborated with India for ‘Power Tech Agreement.’

Dignitaries at the first Ministerial Session

Lastly, the Hon’ble Minister of Energy and Public Utilities Mauritius Mr. Ivan Leslie Collendavelloo spoke about the four pillars of provision of energy to the common men- energy access, energy efficiency, energy sustainability and energy scarcity. Mauritius Government hopes to continue getting support from the Government of India for their collaboration to increase sufficiency.

Mr. Pradhan along with Director General- Directorate General of Hydrocarbons, Secretariat Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Gas and Joint Secretariat (International Corporation) Mr. Sunjay Sudhir inaugurated the Hydrocarbon Exploration and Licensing Policy (HELP). While introducing HELP to the attendees, Mr. Pradhan explained in detail the new exploration and production policy of the Government of India which was adopted in March 2016 in place of the New Exploration Policy 1997.

Inauguration of HELP