PM Narendra Modi meets oil bigwigs to give fillip to investments

New Delhi: Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Tuesday interacted with global oil and gas experts including BP Group CEO Bob Dudley and International Energy Agency (IEA) Executive Director Fatih Birol to discuss ways of boosting investments in times of low oil prices.

"The interaction which lasted over two hours also included Union Ministers Arun Jaitley, Piyush Goyal and Dharmendra Pradhan, Vice-Chairman of NITI Aayog Arvind Panagariya, besides top officials from the Government and NITI Aayog," an official statement said here.

The discussions focused on "subjects such as increasing the share of gas in India's energy mix, fresh investment in oil and gas exploration in India, regulatory frameworks, international acquisition of oil and gas assets, emerging areas such as shale gas and coal-bed methane, and the oil and gas sector related possibilities of Make in India", it said.

Modi emphasised on the need for taking a fresh look at the sector, to bring in investment, technological upgradation, and development of human resource. Others invited for the meeting included Royal Dutch Shell's Director (Projects & Technology) Harry Brekelmans and Pulitzer prize-winning American author Daniel Yergin.