The Hon’ble Union Minister for Petroleum & Natural Gas, Shri S. Jaipal Reddy called for intensifying cooperation among all stakeholders to find solutions to the global energy challenge while addressing a Plenary Session at the triennial World Petroleum Congress at Doha, Qatar during December 4-8, 2011.

The Hon’ble Minister had on December 5, 2011 inaugurated the India pavilion at the exhibition which was visited by the energy ministers of Qatar, Bahrain, Iran, among others.  Present on the occasion were Shri G. C. Chaturvedi, Secretary, Ministry of Petroleum & Natural Gas; Ms. Deepa Gopalan Wadhwa, Indian Ambassador to Qatar; Shri D. N. Narasimha Raju, Joint Secretary (E), Ministry of Petroleum & Natural Gas; Shri Dependra Pathak, Director (E-I), Ministry of Petroleum & Natural Gas; Shri Sudhir Vasudeva, Chairman & Managing Director, ONGC; Shri R. K. Singh, Chairman & Managing Director, BPCL; Shri N. M. Borah, Chairman & Managing Director, OIL; Shri S. Roy Choudhury, Chairman & Managing Director, HPCL; Shri A. K. Purwaha, Chairman & Managing Director, Engineers India Limited; Dr. A. K. Balyan, MD & CEO, Petronet LNG Limited; Ms. Nishi Vasudeva, Director (Marketing), HPCL; Shri D. K. Sarraf, Managing Director, ONGC Videsh Limited; Dr. R. K. Malhotra, Director (R&D), IndianOil; Shri D. Rajkumar, Managing Director, Bharat Petro Resources Limited, etc.

Addressing the Ministerial Session at the WPC on December 5, 2011 the Hon’ble Minister pointed out the progress made by India across the hydrocarbon value chain and the liberal and investor-friendly policies being pursued by the developing economy with a fast growing energy market.  The session was also addressed by Shri G. C. Chaturvedi, Secretary, MoP&NG and a presentation on ‘India’s Capabilities & Potential’ was made by Shri D. N. Narasimha Raju, Joint Secretary (E), MoP&NG.  A vote of thanks was proposed by Shri Dependra Pathak, Director (E-I), MoP&NG.

At the 20th WPC, Ms. Nishi Vasudeva, Director (Mktg.), HPCL and Member of PetroFed Governing Council was elected Vice President (Youth & Gender), Executive Committee of World Petroleum Council.  She has elected after three rounds of voting.  In the first two rounds a two-third majority is required whereas in the third round a simple majority of countries represented is necessary.  At the 19th WPC Shri D. K. Pande, Director (Exploration), ONGC had been elected to this position.  Shri Dependra Pathak, Director (E-I), MoP&NG was elected as Member Congress Programme Committee for 21st World Petroleum Congress.  The Indian delegation led by the Hon’ble Minister had a series of bilateral meetings during the World Petroleum Congress in pursuance of India’s oil diplomacy.

The WPC programme featured four session chairpersons, two vice-chairs, five special session speakers; four round-table panelists and 26 paper & poster presentations from India.  As many as 75 officials were directly involved in these activities, including paper and poster presentations.

The Petroleum Fedearation of India, which has been assisting the Indian National Committee of WPC, was represented by Shri Y. Sahai, Director (Communication & Marketing) and Shri S. S. Ramgarhia, Director (Policy & Planning).

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