Iran N-deal to push down oil prices & help India: Pradhan

He observed that international oil prices would come down with the imminent lifting of sanctions against Iran and benefit India. “With Iran coming to market, the assumption is that there will be further slide in oil prices... India will be one of the beneficiaries of sliding oil prices,” he said.

K D Tripathi, Secretary, Ministry of Petroleum & Natural Gas was the Guest of Honour at the Ceremony. The 12 awards given away were in 11 categories for performance during the financial year 2013-14.

While exhorting the industry captains present to strengthen the country’s Oil & Gas sector the Pradhan congratulated the two companies in the private sector and five in the public sector as well as the individuals who received the awards. Dharmendra Pradhan commended the apex hydrocarbon industry association, PetroFed for instituting the awards in 2007 to recognise and nurture talent and excellence in the oil & gas industry operating in India. He emphasized on the need to enhance domestic production of oil & gas and achieve the target of reducing import dependence by 10% by 2022.

The Minister on the occasion also released The Oil & Gas Year 2015 publication on India. The book tells the story of a transition in the making and addresses the steps taken across the country’s energy value chain over the past year.

The Secretary, Petroleum & Natural Gas, K D Tripathi, lauded the PetroFed initiative and while congratulating the award winners urged industry members to diligently work towards enhancing energy security of the country by augmenting production of oil & gas and improving energy efficiency. Welcoming the invitees, PetroFed and IndianOil Chairman B Ashok highlighted the need for keeping the spirit of healthy competition alive through such awards. “We can take pride in the fact, he said, that with an expected growth of 7.5%, India, for the first time is leading the growth chart of the World Bank for major economies.”

While giving a brief about the awards the Director General, PetroFed A K Arora pointed out that the awards were reviewed every year for improvement and all companies operating in India in the oil & gas sector were eligible without any application fee.  At the suggestion of the Jury in 2014 a new award, which could be a game changer, was instituted.  A Special Commendation Award, he added, is conferred to encourage closely competing entries.

All awardees were presented a trophy and a citation. Indian Oil Corporation Ltd (IOCL) bagged the Leading Oil & Gas Corporate of the Year Award for the fourth time in eight years. It also bagged the Oil & Gas Marketing Company of the Year and the Human Resources Management Company of the Year awards. 

In the new award category, Game Changer Oil & Gas Company of the Year, they were conferred a Special Commendation jointly with LanzaTech Inc. The Woman Executive of the Year award was bagged by Mamoni Basumatary, Senior Manager (Technical Services) from IndianOil’s Guwahati Refinery.  In addition to a trophy and a citation she also received a cash award of Rs 1 lakh.