Excellency Bijan Namdar Zangeneh, Minister of Petroleum, IR Iran
Excellency Adil Abd Al-Mahdi, Minister of Oil, Iraq
Excellency Asdrubal Chavez J, Minister of Popular Power of Petroleum & Mining, Venezuela
Dr Aldo Flores-Quiroga, Secretary General, IEF
Dr Urban Rusnak, Secretary General, Energy Charter Secretariat
Distinguished guests, diplomats, ladies & gentlemen.
I am delighted to be present in the 6th OPEC international seminar. It gives me immense pleasure to talk and share some of my thoughts with this august gathering. The theme of this session is very relevant. The issue of Oil Market Stability has recently become a household name in global energy discussions.
After three years of relative stability of oil prices averaging around US$ 100 per barrel, oil prices declined sharply. There are various explanations given for the fall in oil price. Some see this as a result of sudden increase in global supply of oil due to US shale revolution; some attribute geo-political reasons to this and some argue that this was inevitable since oil prices were artificially high in the past several years.
However, there is no denying the fact that the World Energy map has changed and World energy mix has also changed. New prominent supply sources have emerged in various continents in the map whereas major demand centres and buyers are all concentrated in Asia. Similarly, there have been attempts by all the buyers to go for a better mix in the energy basket by including gas, coal, renewables etc.
I must confess that the recent fall in oil prices has come as a timely relief for Indian economy and consumers. This has resulted in lower levels of inflation and we stand to benefit from higher disposable income which results in higher consumption, decrease in the cost of production of final goods particularly for energy intensive industries and an improved external trade balance.