Prime Minister Narendra Modi sees scope for further reforms in the India's oil and gas sector and has received focused suggestions from some of the world's leading energy companies on the way forward, according to an official statement released on October 9, 2017.
The Modi government's strategy is to use India's market size, as the world's 3rdbiggest oil consumer, to strike better deals for oil imports and attract investment into the country's exploration and refining sectors.
Top executives from global oil and gas giants including Rosneft, BP, ExxonMobil, Saudi Aramco, Shell, Reliance Industries and leading service providers such as Schlumberger and Halliburton met the Prime Minister on Monday in New Delhi for the 3-day India Energy Forum.
In the meeting, Modi thanked Russian President Vladimir Putin and Rosneft for their support to India's energy sector.
The 2 leaders were instrumental in helping to seal Rosneft's $12.9 billion acquisition of the debt-ridden Essar Oil, strengthening ties between the world's largest oil producer and the fastest-growing consumer.
BP and Reliance have said they would jointly invest $6 billion to boost India's gas output.
A BP executive said on Monday that the company was «excited about gas, upstream and digital innovation in India».
Modi was quoted as saying he looked forward to «various opportunities» for cooperation between India and Saudi Arabia, the 2nd biggest oil exporter to the country behind Iraq.
Saudi Aramco, which on Sunday launched a new office near Delhi, is in talks with several Indian refiners for a possible joint venture by next year.
Its CEO Amin Nasser told that India's oil demand would double by 2040 to about 10 million barrels per day, making it the world's largest market for the fuel and a priority for the company.
The Prime Minister said that the status of the energy sector in India is highly uneven.
Petroleum Minister Dharmendra Pradhan informed the oil companies that liberalised India offers a $300 billion investment opportunity in the next 10 years in the oil and gas sector.
