Saturday, November 26, 2005
Oil, gas grid plan gains momentum
Our Economy Bureau / New Delhi November 26, 2005
Eight Asian countries and Turkey have agreed to take forward the Indian proposal for a regional oil and gas grid.
The countries were attending a round table on cooperation between North and Central Asian producers and principal Asian consumers in New Delhi today.
Japan, Korea, China and India represented the consumer side while the producer side was represented by Russia, Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, Turkmenistan and Azerbaijan. Turkey, which is a transit point for oil and gas trade between Europe and Central Asia, was a special invitee to the meeting.
The one-day ministerial issued a 13-point press communiqué outlining the strategy for regional cooperation which they felt could be pursued within the framework of global cooperation.
Russian Minister for Industry and Energy V Kristenko said the concerns on increase in international oil prices would be communicated to the G-8 forum when Russia assumed its chairmanship.
The participating Asian countries also agreed to undertake joint ventures towards developing modern oil and gas facilities with latest technology in the upstream and downstream sectors.
Addressing the round table, Petroleum Minister Mani Shanker Aiyar said India would initiate a detailed scientific study on the possibility of setting up an Asian oil and gas grid.
"We hope to have collaboration from all participating countries, but we will fund the study ourselves. We would like to circulate the results of this study through the International Energy Forum to fellow Asian countries," Aiyar said.
Besides pipelines, the study would also include the feasibility of promoting and developing gas and oil interconnections through liquefied natural gas. The study would be undertaken by the International Energy Forum. Korea proposed setting up of a working group to prepare a master plan.
India carried out bilateral discussions during the sidelines of the meeting. It signed six memoranda of understanding with Korea, including cooperation in strategic underground petroleum storage facility.