Mr. N. K. Bansal Director (Oil Refining and Marketing), FIPI welcomed the participants to the workshop and gave a brief overview of the sessions to be taken up experts from Stratas Advisors.

To begin the workshop, Mr.John Paisie Executive Vice President, Stratas Advisors shared his understanding on emerging trends in clean energy sector. He outlined the importance of hydrocarbons in evolving transport sector and stated that the new found hydrocarbon potential in the US will result in flow of crude from the US towards global economies, majorly towards Asia as global demand of oil & gas makes a shift from the Atlantic basin to the Pacific basin. This growth & shift in demand will make larger refiners more resilient, with focus on 'lighter' production with ‘tighter’ fuel specifications. He also underscored that India’s high crude imports will be driven by the growing investments in oil refineries and gas based crackers in the country, which will lead to cheaper access to Olefins and reduce Naptha demand in market.

Mr. Shuqiang Feng, specialist on Upstream Oil and Gas Field Development and Oilfield Service Market, discussed about the factors influencing the global hydrocarbon supply. He indicated that oil and gas sector will continue to grow supported by OPEC and the newly accessed US Shale and a major boom in Natural Gas and Natural Gas Liquids production is expected steered by strong backing from North America & Middle East.

Ms. Ashley Petersen, Senior Oil Market Analyst, indicated that the hydrocarbon market is currently recovering from the price imbalance due to which supply capacity and capability will play a major role in oil and gas pricing. She further sighted a rise in petrochemical prices alongside crude as market maturity focuses on demand growth on selected products, which in turn will be supported by the strongly growing consumer class in the high demand regions. Sharing her perspective on Indian market, she highlighted a secured growth in country’s LPG demand due to restructuring of Government of India’s assistance program.

Mr. George Popps, specialist on World Trade of LNG, shared his analysis on gas market dynamics exploring the impact of geo-political ties and technological advancement in the LNG sector. He also discussed about the possibility of new gas hubs in Asia and increase in spot trade.

Mr. Trey Hohmann, specialist in Global Light-Duty Vehicle forecasting, Emissions Modeling, outlined India, China & ASEAN as the new hub of growing fuel demand and transformations in Automotive sector. He also indicated towards a rapid growth in petrol hybrids & xEVs in China’s automotive market and a sustained growth in LMVs and two wheelers is expected for Indian automotive market.

Ms. Huiming Li, specialist in Fuel Quality and Policy Issues advised to lower the Sulphur content of fuels in all the developing demand-hub countries, like India & China. She also underscored the existing gap between fuel quality and emissions in developing countries where alternatives like MTBE and Ethanol are already available to meet the high octane needs.

The workshop was attended by senior oil and gas professionals from the industry and the intense debate during the sessions made it a highly productive one.