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Oil assets vulnerable to sabotage: Pranab

Pranab Mukherjee

NEW DELHI: Describing the Mumbai terror attacks as “direct strikes” on India’s economic development, External Affairs Minister Pranab Mukherjee on Monday called for heightened security to protect the hydrocarbon assets from acts of sabotage.

Inaugurating the five-day international oil and gas conference and exhibition – Petrotech 2009, Mr. Mukherjee said: “The unpardonable Mumbai attacks only underscore the risk all countries face from economic sabotage, irrespective of whether these acts are authored by States or merely carried out by so-called non-State actors.”

Stressing that the crucial hydrocarbon sector was even more vulnerable to terrorist attacks, he said:

“Energy security concerns are central to our national interest and an important aspect of our economic diplomacy; efforts to protect these assets had to be a global undertaking, rather than of individual countries.

“Protecting these assets would not simply be a law and order problem for an individual country, whether an energy exporter or a consumer. Stability of energy supplies, security of energy transportation and creation of new energy infrastructure and its protection has to be a common goal requiring coordination and cooperation of all countries.”

Expressing concern over high volatility in global crude prices, Mr. Mukherjee said such uncertainty would neither profit the producer nor comfort the seller.

Stressing more global cooperation in the energy sector, he said: “The nationalist position [taken by major crude oil producers] on energy matters will close more doors than it will open.”

Highlighting the need for setting up a new cooperative framework among producers and consumers, based on dialogue and transparent exchange of data, he said the global community needed to find realistic answers to questions about oil supplies, investments and technology upgradation of the oil and gas sector.

Referring to the fast-growing domestic oil sector, Mr. Mukherjee said India favoured a competitive and market-oriented hydrocarbon sector with increasing private sector and foreign investment in all the important segments of the industry.

On the global economic slowdown, Mr. Mukherjee said India was determined to maintain a good growth rate, energy constraints notwithstanding.

“We hope to grow at 7 per cent this year. India is backed by strong fundamentals like sustained high domestic savings and investment rates, productivity growth and domestic demand. We are confident of coping with external shocks and sustaining the growth story,” he added.

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