Where is all the oil investments that the government is claiming going to come from and which areas do you see investments happening?

The India Energy Forum is expected to be inaugurated by Prime Minister Modi and is likely to attract some of the biggest oil names from the OPEC countries. Even oil majors from the US and Europe are expected to be a part of the conclave.

For the Indian government, the oil sector is likely to drive more than 20% of the big investments that come into the infrastructure sector, so oil becomes crucial to the future plans. India expects oil investments to the tune of $206 billion coming in the next 8 years.

These investments would be spread across the entire value chain of oil ranging from extraction, production, refining, marketing and even gas production and supply. This would include an investment of nearly $67 billion in gas infrastructure including LNG capacity, pipelines and CGD networks.

Apart from the gas networks, oil exploration and production is expected to see total investments of $59 billion in shallow and deep drilling. In addition, the government expects another $80 billion of investments to be committed in refining and marketing of oil.

Most of the OPEC nations from the GCC or Gulf Cooperation Council are interested in investing in India to secure markets for their crude. Apart from OPEC members, global oil giants like Total, Shell and Exxon have also evinced interest in investing in India.