The India Pavilion was formally inaugurated by Shri Dharmendra Pradhan, Hon’ble Minister of Petroleum & Natural Gas and Skill Development & Entrepreneurship and H.E. Sultan Ahmed Al Jaber, Minister of State, UAE & Director General & CEO of ADNOC in an impressive ceremony held on 12th November in the presence of global as well Indian dignitaries from the oil industry. Mr. Navdeep Singh Suri, Ambassador of India to the UAE and other senior government officials from India were also present at the inauguration.

Shri Dharmendra Pradhan, Hon’ble Minister of Petroleum & Natural Gas and Skill Development & Entrepreneurship participated in the Ministerial Session on ‘Reshaping Markets: Continuing the Global Energy Discussion’ on 12th November along with energy ministers from UAE, Arab Republic of Egypt, Sultanate of Oman and Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela.

An exclusive India Session, titled ‘India’s Growing Energy Demand & Race for Energy Independence’ was coordinated by FIPI. The panel discussion, which was moderated by Dr. R.K. Malhotra, Director General, FIPI included Mr. Shashi Shanker, CMD ONGC and Chairman, FIPI; Mr. Sanjiv Singh, Chairman IOCL and Co-Chairman FIPI; Mr. M.K. Surana, CMD HPCL; Mr. Subramanian Sarma, CEO & MD, L&T Hydrocarbon Engineering; Mr. P.K. Sharma, Director (Operations), OIL; Mr. Vinod Kumar Mishra, Director (Finance), Petronet LNG as panelists who gave useful insights about their respective areas of business.

Besides, Mr. Shashi Shanker, CMD ONGC and Chairman FIPI was one of the speakers in the session on “Fast-tracking offshore and marine long-term growth: adapting to new market conditions alongwith eminent speakers from Kuwait Oil tanker Company, steelhead LNG, ADNOC Logistics and Eni.

Dr. R.K. Malhotra also participated in a panel discussion on Downstream Diversification & Growth: How can diverse, effective human capital shape the future of the downstream sector” alongwith senior industry professionals from A.T. Kearney, Fluor Energy & Chemicals, Hellenic Petroleum and CEPSA Petroleum Operations.

The ADIPEC 2018 conference provided insights on the future of the oil and gas industry through a wide variety of sessions like, Ministerial Sessions, Global Business Leader Sessions, Executive Dialogues, C-Suite Dialogues CEO Finance Breakfasts, Inclusion & Diversity in Energy and Offshore and Marine Global Business Leader Sessions, in addition to a comprehensive technical programme.

During ADIPEC 2018, the Indian Strategic Petroleum Reserves (ISPRL) inked a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with the Abu Dhabi National Oil Company (ADNOC) to explore the possibility of storing ADNOC crude oil at ISPRL’s underground oil storage facility at Padur in Karnataka. This move will allow ISPRL and ADNOC to explore opportunities related to the possible storage of ADNOC crude at Padur, which will help to strengthen the country’s strategic petroleum reserves.

The ADIPEC 2018 was participated by Ministers from various countries, CEOs/Senior Executives from National Oil and Gas Companies and Private Sector Oil & Gas Companies, as well as leading policy and decision makers and speakers from around the world. The Middle East Petroleum Club set up the venue, provided an exclusive business platform with over 3,000 members ranging from Ministers and CEO's to Executive Management teams from around the world, for knowledge sharing and connectivity amongst the global oil and gas industry’s top decision makers and influencers.

The ADIPEC 2018 witnessed huge participation from exhibitors and visitors, marking the biggest edition since its inception. The number of visitors to this edition of ADIPEC exceeded 145,000 comprising specialized experts and VIP visitors, in addition to the participation of 2,200 exhibiting companies from 67 countries as well as 29 country pavilions.