Prime Minister Narendra Modi will interact with CEOs of leading global oil and gas companies on Monday at an annual event organised by the NITI Aayog and the Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Gas. The Prime Minister's Office (PMO) said that this is the fifth such event organised by the NITI Aayog and Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Gas, and around 45 CEOs of major oil and gas companies will attend the roundtable this year. The objective behind the meeting is to deliver a global platform to understand best-practices, discuss reforms, and inform strategies for accelerating investments into the Indian oil and gas value chain, the PMO said in a statement.

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The annual interaction has gradually become one of the most important gatherings of not only intellectual debate but also of executive action, it said. The event also grows in stature with the rise of India, the world's third-largest energy consumer, which is likely to see investment of over USD 300 billion by 2030 in the oil and gas sector to meet the rising demand, the PMO said. The prime minister will interact with the CEOs at 5.30 pm IST on October 26 via video conference, the statement said. India is an important player in the global oil and gas sector, being the third largest consumer of crude oil and the fourth largest LNG importer, the PMO said. Realising the need for India to graduate from a passive consumer to an active and vocal stake-holder in the global oil and gas value chain, NITI Aayog initiated the first roundtable of global oil and gas CEOs with the prime minister in 2016.

The growth of the event was apparent as around 45-50 global CEOs and key stakeholders who shape the global oil and gas sector assembled every subsequent year to interact and discuss the issues and opportunities with the prime minister, the PMO said. The impact of the annual global CEOs interaction can be seen in the gravity of discussion, quality of suggestions and the seriousness with which they are acted upon, it said. Minister of Petroleum and Natural Gas and Minister of Steel Dharmendra Pradhan will make the opening remarks at the event, followed by a comprehensive presentation giving an overview of the oil and gas sector, and explaining the ambition and opportunities in the sector in India. This will be followed by the interaction session with global CEOs and experts.

Key global oil and gas stakeholders like Sultan Ahmed Al Jaber, CEO Abu Dhabi National Oil Company (ADNOC) and Minister of Industry and Advanced Technology, UAE; Saad Sherida al-Kaabi, Minister of State for Energy Affairs of Qatar, Deputy Chairman, President & CEO, Qatar Petroleum; Mohammad Sanusi Barkindo, Secretary General, OPEC, Austria, will lead the session with their inputs on the oil and gas sector.

Igor Sechin, Chairman & CEO, Rosneft, Russia; Bernard Looney, CEO, BP Ltd.; Patrick Pouyanne, Chairman & CEO, Total SA France; Anil Agarwal, Chairman of Vedanta Resources Limited; Mukesh Ambani, Chairman and Managing Director, RIL; Fatih Birol, Executive Director, International Energy Agency, France; Joseph Mc Monigle, Secretary General, International Energy Forum, Saudi Arabia; and Yury Sentyurin Secretary-General, the Gas Exporting Countries Forum will also share their inputs with the PM. CEOs and experts of major oil and gas companies like Lyondell Basell, Tellurian, Schlumberger, Baker Hughes, JERA, Emerson and X-Coal, Indian oil and gas companies, will also present their perspective.

Prior to this, the prime minister will inaugurate the India Energy Forum by CERAWeek, now in its fourth year. The forum is hosted by HIS Markit, a world leader in critical information, analytics and solutions. The event will convene an international group of speakers and a community of over a thousand delegates from India and over 30 countries, including from regional energy companies, energy-related industries, institutions and governments. The inaugural speakers include Saudi's Minister of Energy Abdulaziz bin Salman AI Saud, US Secretary of Energy Dan Brouillette and Vice Chairman, HIS Markit, Chairman, CERAWeek, Daniel Yergin.
Key topics to be explored during India Energy Forum include impact of the pandemic on India's future energy demand; securing supplies for India's economic growth; what does energy transition and the climate agenda mean for India; and natural gas in India's energy mix.

The story has been taken from a news agency