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Select Energy-Related
Developments in South Asia
India’s remarkable economic expansion in recent
years is heavily anchored on its manufacturing
industry, stimulated by its government’s
campaign to create 100 million factory jobs and
increasing manufacturing’s share in the national
GDP from 18% to 25% by 2022. Hence, the
spike in commercial and industrial manufacturing,
combined with sustained infrastructure
construction activities, caused India’s oil demand
to exponentially rise.
The Need for Power, Now More than Ever
A sufficient energy supply is indispensable to the
continuous economic growth of South Asian countries.
At present, regional governments and various private
entities are making progress towards securing the
region’s energy future by exploring and developi ng
new energy and oil & gas sources, and forging project
partnerships within the region and beyond. Key to
the successful completion and implementation of
South Asia’s energy-related projects is a reliable and
continuous supply of electricity, which can be provided
by temporary power plants in case the countries’
available power capacity is not enough for such
energy-intensive industrial activities.
In fact, India consumed four million barrels of oil
in 2015, and in 2016, it was expected to surpass
Japan as the world’s third-largest oil consumer.
India is predicted to be the world’s fastest-
growing crude consumer through 2040, adding
six million barrels a day of demand. Temporary power plants represent a power generation
technology highly suitable to South Asia’s energy and
oil & gas projects. They can be rapidly delivered and
installed anywhere in the world, even in remote areas,
where governments and private firms in South Asia are
now exploring and developing oil & gas resources.
In order to satiate its energy and oil & gas
requirements, India’s government and several
public and private companies have pledged
billions of US Dollars’ worth of investment in oil
& gas assets in the country and elsewhere. For
example, Indian firms have proposed dedicating
approximately USD 5 billion to the development
of various Siberian oil & gas fields. State-owned
explorer Oil & Natural Gas Corporation has also
allocated USD 5 billion to develop an oil & gas
field off India’s east coast. The latter is expected
to add about 10% to India’s oil production and
18% to its natural gas output. They are highly scalable, so that they can provide
the precise amount of power needed in the different
processes of an oil & gas operation or pipeline
construction. For example, an oil & gas company, like
the government-owned Bharat Petroleum Corporation
or the private Hindustan Oil Exploration Company
Ltd, can opt to start with a small power plant during
the less energy-intensive stages, and then ramp up
its capacity as operations expand and as processes
require more power.
Another notable energy-related development
in South Asia is the construction of the Trans-
Afghanistan pipeline or the Turkmenistan–
Afghanistan–Pakistan–India Pipeline (TAPI), which
will connect the regions of Central Asia and South
Asia, and thus facilitate the transfer of energy
resources. The pipeline will transport natural
gas from the Caspian Sea from Turkmenistan
through Afghanistan into Pakistan and, then,
to India. Construction on the project started
in Turkmenistan on December 2015, and the
pipeline is expected to be operational by 2019.
Modern rental power plants are equipped with cutting-
edge protection systems that ensure a safe operation
within oil & gas facilities. Additionally, they will be
expertly installed, operated and maintained by certified
electrical engineers from the service provider, so oil &
gas companies, like Cairn India or Essar Oil, can rest
assured that the power plants will remain efficient and
reliable throughout the service.
Averting the Energy Trade-Off
While a continuous economic growth is a welcome
development to any country anywhere in the world,
South Asia’s rapid urbanization and industrialization
have put immense pressure on the region’s existing
energy infrastructure and supply. Energy is an integral
component for economic development, and as it is the
need of the hour, regional governments and energy
firms are dedicating significant investment to secure
the South Asia’s energy future. As the region’s energy
initiatives come to fruition in the coming years, South
Asia is expected to further develop as a true global
economic power.
Oil & Gas Leaders • April 2017 11