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On the sidelines of the current OPEC meeting in Vienna, the Minister of Petroleum and Natural Gas and Panchayati Raj, Shri Mani Shankar Aiyar, has within 48 hours met 13 of his counterparts, including Ministers of Iran, Angola, Sudan, Norway, Indonesia, Venezuela, Nigeria, Austria, Egypt, Libya, Algeria, Qatar and Syria.
IRAN
The long-awaited "package" of measures for cooperation in the hydrocarbon sector, which has been under negotiations with Iran for 18 months, has been virtually finalized through three rounds of intensive negotiations between Shri Aiyar and the Iranian Minister, H.E. Dr. Bijan Zanganeh. The understanding reached is expected to be initialed later today. The conclusions range across Indian participation in three Iranian oil fields and Jöint exploration of gas fields; long term purchases of LNG; revamping of refineries at Tehran and Tabriz; tankage; engineering and design; joint ventures in petrochemicals; and Iranian investment in the Indian petroleum and petrochemical sector, and vice-versa
ANGOLA
While confirming that the Angolan state oil company, Sonalgol, would be examining its right of pre-emption in early October to resume to Angola Shell’s share of the highly potential off-shore block in Angola, the Angolan Minister for Petroleum H.E. Mr. Desiderio da Graca Verissimo e Costa accepted the Indian Minister’s request that, in view of the time-tested solidarity between the two countries during Angola’s long freedom struggle, sybololized by Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi’s visit to Angola at the height of the struggle, the Angolan Government would consider farming in India as a co-participant through a subsidiary production staring arrangement.
SUDAN
Commending India’s growing participation in upstream projects in Sudan, including in Greater Nile Oil Project, where production has commenced, and exploration blocks such as 5A and 5B, as well as the commencement of work on the pipeline which India is building from the Khartoum refinery to Port Sudan, the Sudan Minister of Energy and Mining, H.E. Dr Awad Ahmed Al-Jaz, indicated his Government’s preference for a virtual greenfield Euro 4 standard refinery instead of a limited revamping of the existing refinery at Port Sudan. The alternative has been suggested in the detailed feasibility report prepared by ONGC Videsh Limited. Delegates from India and Sudan will address the legal and financial minuttiae at a meeting to be convened in Khartoum before the end of the month.
NORWAY
H.E.Ms Thorhild Widvey, the Norwegian Minister for Petroleum and Energy, and Shri Aiyar agreed to restore and expand Indo-Norwegian cooperation in deep sea drilling and third country projects and quickly conclude the pending inter-governmental framework required for promoting collaboration between the two countries’ public sector giants, ONGC and Statoil.
INDONESIA
The Indonesian Minister of Mines and Energy, H.E Mr Purnomo Yusgiantoro, who is also President of OPEC, accepted the Indian Minister’s request to participate as a special guest in the proposed round-table being convened in association with the International Energy Forum in New Delhi early next year, between the principal Asian suppliers and buyers of crude.
VENEZULELA
The last few outstanding issues in regard to the proposed inter-governmental framework agreement were ironed out in discussions between the Indian Minister and the Venezuelan Minister of Energy and Mines, H.E Mr Rafael Ramirez, and it was agreed that OVL/IOC would resume their stalled relationship with Venezuela’s state oil company, PVDSA, for joint exploration in six blocks in Venezuela besides the on-going joint work on heavy oils in Rajasthan.
NIGERIA
The Presidential Advisor on Petroleum and Energy, H.E. Dr Edmund Daukoru, agreed to recommend to his government for their sympathetic consideration the Indian Minister’s request for a substantial additional allocation to India of Nigerian sweet crude. He also expressed his interest in India’s R&D work in hydrocarbons.
AUSTRIA
Reviewing arrangements for the forthcoming visit to India of the Austrian President, the Austrian Minister of Economic Affairs and Labour H.E. Dr Martin Bartenstein, agreed to facilitate contacts between OVL and the emerging Austrian major, OMV, for joint projects in east Europe, the Caspian region and elsewhere.
EGYPT
Expressing satisfaction at GAIL’s participation in city gas distribution projects in Cairo and other cities of Egypt, the Egyptian Minister for Petroleum, H.E. Mr Sameh Samir Fahmy, sought Indian participation in the proposed petroleum products pipeline which would connect the Mediterranean and the Red Sea, as also in exploration and production blocks which were shortly going to be put on offer in the western desert bordering Libya and the Upper Nile region.
LIBYA
Welcoming India’s emergence as a buyer of Libyan crude, the Libyan Secretary General of the People’s Committee on Energy, H.E Dr Fathi Hamed Ben Shatwan, sought Indian cooperation in upstream exploration and in the downstream refining sector, as also for the training of Libyan oil engineers and technicians.
ALGERIA
Pleased with India’s performance in training Algerian oil experts, the Algerian Minister of Energy and Mines, H.E. Dr Chakib Khelil informed the Indian Minister of Algeria’s emergence as the single most important source of natural gas in North Africa and expressed the hope that, notwithstanding the distance between the two countries, Indo-Algerian cooperation in the hydrocarbon sector might be widened and deepened.
QATAR
The Qatar Second Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Energy and Industry, H.E. Mr. Abdullah bin Hamad al Attiyah, lauded the success of Petronet, in which he had placed his personal faith, and agreed that Qatar would give priority to supplying an additional 2.5 million metric tonnes of LNG to India, an option provided for in the subsisting contract with Rasgas, notwithstanding Qatar’s tight supply situation.
SYRIA
Underlining the high potential of the block being explored by OVL, the Syrian Minister of Petroleum and Mineral Resources, H.E Prof. Dr Ibrahim Haddad, expressed the hope that success there would be the precursor for a much deeper involvement of India in Syria’s expected emergence as a significant west Asian oil producer.
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