Third High-level Meeting of the OPEC-India Energy Dialogue

The third High-level Meeting of the OPEC-India Energy Dialogue was held on 17 October 2018 in New Delhi, India. The Meeting was co-chaired by HE Dharmendra Pradhan, India’s Minister of Petroleum and Natural Gas, and the OPEC Secretary General, HE Mohammad Sanusi Barkindo.

Both parties reiterated the continued importance of the OPEC-India Energy Dialogue as an indispensable forum for fostering good relations, facilitating knowledge exchange and pooling technical expertise. The regularity of interaction between both sides was commended and HE Barkindo thanked HE Pradhan for his active participation and valuable contribution to the 7^th International OPEC Seminar. Discussions thereafter focused on current developments in the oil market and OPEC provided an update on its ongoing cooperation with non-OPEC producing countries under the umbrella of the “Declaration of Cooperation.”

In his opening remarks HE Barkindo said, “India is an extremely important partner for OPEC, and all of us in the Organization are determined to continue strengthening the relationship.” He emphasized that a major component of OPEC’s World Oil Outlook 2018 was the increasing importance of India for the future of the international oil industry. HE Barkindo stated that India is “projected to have the fastest average oil demand growth (3.7% p.a.) in the period 2017-2040, as well as the largest additional demand.”

The High-level meeting saw presentations from OPEC on short-term oil market developments, as well as the long-term energy outlook. This included some analysis on the outlook for the global economy, oil supply and oil demand for the remainder of 2018, as well as medium- and long-term challenges and opportunities.

A technical meeting of experts from India and OPEC was also held prior to the High-level meeting to analyze various issues, as well as look at ways and means to enhance the cooperation in the coming years.

The third High-Level Meeting builds on the first that took place in New Delhi, India, on 15 December 2015, when HE Pradhan and accompanying Indian delegates hosted an OPEC delegation headed by the then OPEC Secretary General, HE Abdalla Salem El-Badri, and the second which took place in Vienna, Austria at the OPEC Secretariat, on 22 May 2017.

The parties agreed to have their next High-level meeting in 2019 in Vienna.