Dharmendra Pradhan invites US to collaborate & invest in the oil and petroleum sector

Union Minister of Petroleum, Natural Gas and Steel, Dharmendra Pradhan, on Wednesday, co-chaired industry-level virtual meet, organised by US-India Business Council (USIBC) along with US Secretary of Energy, HE Dan Brouillette. Pradhan invited US companies and investors for greater investment in India, anticipating new opportunities in the field of oil and gas and petrochemicals in the country.

"There have been a few collaborative efforts between Indian and American companies in this sector, but it is far below their potential," said Pradhan.

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Pradhan appreciated the strategic partnership shared between India and the US even during the pandemic, making "collaborative efforts" in economic aspects as well as battling COVID-19. 

"Even during these challenging times, India and the US have been working in close collaboration, be it in stabilizing global energy markets or in collaborative efforts to address COVID-19. In today's turbulent world, one constant is-and always will be -the strength of our bilateral partnership," he added.

On Tuesday, the Union Minister had also separately chaired an industry-level talk organized by US-India Strategic Energy partnership (USISPF). Indian Ambassador to the US Taranjit Sandhu, Secretary, Ministry of PNG, Tarun Kapoor and representatives of various Energy-related Ministries of Government of India and US were a part of the meet. Besides, representatives from Indian and US companies also took part in this virtual meeting. These meetings have been a precursor to the second Ministerial meeting of India and US Strategic Energy Partnership, scheduled on July 17, 2020. 

Pradhan discussed the opportunities in the field of LNG bunkering, LNG ISO container development, petrochemicals, bio-fuels, and Compressed Bio-Gas in the Indian energy sector and also spoke about the policy reforms that the government has been implementing in the exploration and production of petrochemicals in India.

The union minister also called for greater participation from the US companies during the next bidding rounds in Open Acreage Licensing Policy (OALP) and Discovered Small Fields (DSF). He said that India will see an investment of over USD 118 billion in oil and gas exploration as well as in setting up natural gas infrastructure, including the development of gas supply and distribution networks in the next five years as the country prepares to meet the needs of a fast-growing economy.

(With ANI inputs)

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