Abu Dhabi: Drop in oil price has helped India to deal with subsidies, current account deficit and raise some taxes on petroleum products which in turn has helped the government, a top energy executive from India has said.
Narendra Taneja, co-chairman of the Hydrocarbons Committee of the Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry and national convener of energy cell in the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party said the drop in oil price has come at the right time for the new government. “It is kind of God sent. There is new spring in Indian economy and low oil price has contributed immensely towards it,” said Taneja speaking to Gulf News on the sidelines of Gulf Intelligence UAE Energy Forum in Abu Dhabi on Tuesday.
He said that the government has readjusted some schemes and plans based on the current oil price. “If the price goes up to $140 per barrel, it might be costly for us both politically and economically. We have serious doubts whether the present price is sustainable.”
“We need cheap oil but at the same time we also want the Middle East which is the main source of our oil to be socially, economically and politically stable.”
The country is constructing seven new Liquefied Natural Gas (Lng) Terminals with a total investment of more than $5 billion dollars over next ten years, Taneja said. “Companies have signed agreements to bring Lng from Australia, Mozambique and from the United States. Our appetite for natural gas is huge. Our dependency on gas is going to grow.”
According to him India, China, Korea and Japan are considering forming a cartel in the gas market to directly negotiate with countries which are exporting gas. “It will be like Opec which will benefit both exporting and importing countries.”
India’s gross domestic product (GDP) is expected to expand at 6.4 per cent in 2015.
