Demand by India, China on energy will continue surging — Qatari oil

PWR-INDIA-MINISTERS-MEETING

NEW DELHI, Jan 6 (KUNA) — International demand on oil is expected to keep on the rise especially by India and China, the world’s most populous nations, Qatari Oil and Industry Minister Abdullah Bin Hamad Al-Attiyah said Thursday at the first Roundtable Conference of Asian Oil Ministers currently underway here.

Al-Attiyah said the Chinese economy, being the world’s second largest oil consumer after the US and also second largest oil importer after Japan, has pushed international demand on oil forward.

He also noted that Japan and Korea, being Asia’s largest economies, drove demand on oil to record rates, and that any potential reduction of the oil by producing countries would lead to supply shortage and a consequent price surge.

He anticipated that the major share of oil production in the world will come from the OPEC members, especially those in the Middle East, amid notable scarcity of oil discoveries in other nations.

The Qatari official called for holding an international dialogue on developing energy sources, removing pertinent hurdles and reinforcing regional cooperation in the field of oil economy.

Oil ministers of nine oil producing and consuming countries are meeting in New Delhi today. The meeting theme is “stability, security, sustainability through mutual interdependence”. Its primary objective is to bring more stability to the Asian market. It is being attended by ministers from Saudi Arabia, Iran, Oman, Japan, India and others. (end) ke.

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