Downstream petroleum and natural gas regulator soon

New Delhi, May 17 (UNI)The newly enacted law, Petroleum and Natural Gas Regulatory Board Act 2006, would be shortly in place in India, said M S Srinivasan, Secretary, Petroleum and Naturl Gas.

Inaugurating the Indo-US Conference on Building Natural Gas markets in India here today, Mr Srinivasan said that the Board would promote competition in the oil and natural gas sector. Which would help in the growth of the sector particularly natural gas which is emerging a preferred fuel as its mobility improves with technological intervention.

In India, the share of natural gas in energy mix is slated to increase from 9-10 per cent at present to around 25 per cent over the next 25 years in line with the global trend, he added.

Mr Srinivasan underlined the importance of the Conference in the context of the developments in natural gas sector in India. He informed that initiatives are being taken to have a nationwide gas grid, trans-border trade of natural gas through pipelines and in the form of liquefied natural gas, which should grow simultaneously without resulting in imbalance in the development. Limitations in the gas pricing in India have been removed with the implementation of liberal New Exploration Licensing Policy (NELP). This provides incentive to the producers for greater investment in the exploration and production. The efforts have resulted in striking more and more gas in the Indian basins.

Speaking on the occation, Mr David Pumphrey, Deputy Asstt.

Secretary, US Department of Energy, also underlined the importance of the Conference in the context of overall growing cooperation between India and US especially after the visit of Indian Prime Minister to US in July 2005. He called for forging partnerships and cooperation between public-private companies of the two countries in the hydrocarbon sector.

Additional Secretary, Anil Razdan, MoP&NG, Proshanto Banerjee, CMD, GAIL and Mr. Prabh Das, Joint Secretary, MoP&NG also spoke at the inaugural session.

The Indo-US Gas Conference is sponsored by Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Gas, and US Department of Energy under the aegis of the India- US Energy Dialogue. The Conference was organized by GAIL (India) Limited on behalf of Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Gas.

Important developments on Gas Infrastructure Development and Operations, LNG and Non-Conventional Gas sources were presented in the technical sessions by the eminent experts from US and India.

Speakers from the US shared their experience in the development of inter-state pipeline system, pipeline safety and security and importance of non-conventional resources of gas such as Coal Bed Methane and natural Gas Hydrates.

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