Kingdom, India strive to boost energy ties - Arab News
RIYADH: Saudi Arabia and India have set up a new vision of energy partnership, while New Delhi continues to engage in aggressive oil diplomacy with oil producers to ensure stable energy supply at affordable prices, according to the Indian ambassador in Riyadh.
India's energy demand, which will more than double by 2030, has even prompted Indian companies to own oil producing assets in seven countries, whose cumulative investments exceed $12 billion today.
"India, in fact, will need fossil fuels in all scenarios even if it succeeds in exploiting its full hydropower potential and even if a 20-fold increase takes place in its nuclear power capacity," said Indian Ambassador Talmiz Ahmad, in an apparent reference to the energy supply from the Gulf states.
Ahmad, who writes and lectures regularly on Islam and politics of West Asia, was delivering a keynote lecture at the International Energy Forum (IEF), here Monday.
Noe van Hulst, IEF secretary general, introduced Ahmad to an elite audience composed mainly of senior diplomats, Saudi and IEF officials as well as top company executives.
India is a member of the IEF executive board, together with host country Saudi Arabia, the International Energy Agency (IEA), Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) and 17 other countries. Riyadh and New Delhi are also members of the IEF's International Support Group.
In his lecture, which focused on global energy security and India's energy diplomacy, Ahmad said that New Delhi, which imports 18 percent of its domestic oil consumption from Saudi Arabia, was engaged in energy diplomacy with an emphasis on stable supply.
The diplomacy calls for "substantial, robust and multi-faceted global engagements", said Ahmad.
He pointed out that India imported 40 percent of its domestic requirements from the six-nation Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) countries, including the Kingdom.
He said that the most significant development in the consumption of hydrocarbon fuels was the increase in Asian demand in recent years. Ahmad pointed out that China and India together would be responsible for over a third of the world's incremental consumption of oil over the next 25 years.
Referring to the geopolitics of oil, Ambassador Ahmad said that India ranked as the fifth largest consumer of energy in the world today, accounting for 3.7 percent of the world's consumption.
"Our import dependence on oil is 75 percent and likely to reach 90 percent by 2030", he added.
India's total primary energy demand is expected to almost double by 2030, said the diplomat, adding that India needs to sustain an eight to 10 percent economic growth rate over the next 25 years if it is to eradicate poverty and meet its human development goals.
Referring to regional cooperation in the energy sector, he said that India was pursuing two transnational gas pipeline proposals. The first one is the Iran-Pakistan-India (IPI) project and the second is the Turkmenistan-Afghanistan-Pakistan-India (TAPI) project.
He was optimistic on the implementation of these projects, despite the fact that they have been facing a lot of political and security-related troubles.
On the domestic front, he said that the refining capacity in India will increase from 178 million tons in 2010 to 250 million tons in 2012, with exportable surplus being 100 million tons.
Ahmad also threw his weight behind IEF and applauded the role of the forum, saying that IEF has emerged as the world's largest energy forum with 90 member countries and 13 international organizations.
RIYADH: Saudi Arabia and India have set up a new vision of energy partnership, while New Delhi continues to engage in aggressive oil diplomacy with oil producers to ensure stable energy supply at affordable prices, according to the Indian ambassador in Riyadh.
India's energy demand, which will more than double by 2030, has even prompted Indian companies to own oil producing assets in seven countries, whose cumulative investments exceed $12 billion today.
"India, in fact, will need fossil fuels in all scenarios even if it succeeds in exploiting its full hydropower potential and even if a 20-fold increase takes place in its nuclear power capacity," said Indian Ambassador Talmiz Ahmad, in an apparent reference to the energy supply from the Gulf states.
Ahmad, who writes and lectures regularly on Islam and politics of West Asia, was delivering a keynote lecture at the International Energy Forum (IEF), here Monday.
Noe van Hulst, IEF secretary general, introduced Ahmad to an elite audience composed mainly of senior diplomats, Saudi and IEF officials as well as top company executives.
India is a member of the IEF executive board, together with host country Saudi Arabia, the International Energy Agency (IEA), Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) and 17 other countries. Riyadh and New Delhi are also members of the IEF's International Support Group.
In his lecture, which focused on global energy security and India's energy diplomacy, Ahmad said that New Delhi, which imports 18 percent of its domestic oil consumption from Saudi Arabia, was engaged in energy diplomacy with an emphasis on stable supply.
The diplomacy calls for "substantial, robust and multi-faceted global engagements", said Ahmad.
He pointed out that India imported 40 percent of its domestic requirements from the six-nation Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) countries, including the Kingdom.
He said that the most significant development in the consumption of hydrocarbon fuels was the increase in Asian demand in recent years. Ahmad pointed out that China and India together would be responsible for over a third of the world's incremental consumption of oil over the next 25 years.
Referring to the geopolitics of oil, Ambassador Ahmad said that India ranked as the fifth largest consumer of energy in the world today, accounting for 3.7 percent of the world's consumption.
"Our import dependence on oil is 75 percent and likely to reach 90 percent by 2030", he added.
India's total primary energy demand is expected to almost double by 2030, said the diplomat, adding that India needs to sustain an eight to 10 percent economic growth rate over the next 25 years if it is to eradicate poverty and meet its human development goals.
Referring to regional cooperation in the energy sector, he said that India was pursuing two transnational gas pipeline proposals. The first one is the Iran-Pakistan-India (IPI) project and the second is the Turkmenistan-Afghanistan-Pakistan-India (TAPI) project.
He was optimistic on the implementation of these projects, despite the fact that they have been facing a lot of political and security-related troubles.
On the domestic front, he said that the refining capacity in India will increase from 178 million tons in 2010 to 250 million tons in 2012, with exportable surplus being 100 million tons.
Ahmad also threw his weight behind IEF and applauded the role of the forum, saying that IEF has emerged as the world's largest energy forum with 90 member countries and 13 international organizations.
