We want trade with India to be $5 bn by 2015: Joe Oilver

Q&A with Canada's Minister of Natural Resources

The bilateral relation between India and Canada is taking a fresh turn with both the countries focusing on oil and gas sector. Canada's Minister of Natural Resources Joe Oilver in an exclusive interview with Nayanima Basu & Shine Jacob talks about the future of energy trade, including the much-hyped nuclear co-operation.

While India and Canada have signed the civil nuclear cooperation deal, Canadian nuclear firms have not shown much interest in investing here. It is learnt they have reservations on the nuclear liability law. What is the status in this regard?

There was a dissent in this regard. After the deal was signed, about 15 companies came to India to discuss ways that they can get involved. There is going to be an Indian delegation that would be coming to Canada this year. The level of interest is high. Canada is the second largest producer of Uranium in the world and that is why that agreement is important.

The nuclear technology is very widespread in India, we will continue the supply and research and development support to companies. There is an issue (nuclear liability law) because the operator is potentially responsible in India, which is not the international norm. However, I had a discussion about this subject with some government officials.

India may take an approach to provide some reassurance to suppliers in the form of insurance… or may be a cap, or a clear definition of what could be liability. It is possible to look into what could be the ways to reassure our operators. I think this is one potential solution. Suppliers are not going to put themselves to huge liability. We should look into international norms. In Canada, we moved to a regime of $1 billion absolute liability cap.

What is the progress on India-Canada comprehensive economic partnership talks?

We completed the eighth round of negotiations. We would like to see that agreement completed. The other related subject is foreign investment promotion protection act, which provides protection for Indian companies operating in Canada and our companies operating in India.

That is also an important agreement, as it provides legal assurance and encourages investments in both sides. There is no timeline in this regard at this point. India is a priority for Canada we would like to see these agreements progress.

With sanctions on Iran, India had been keen on importing LNG from Canada.

This is a major subject of my discussion. We progressed significantly and the relationship is a very strong one now. In 2012, our two Prime Ministers met in India, we would like to see the trade between the two countries triple. We want it to be $5 billion by 2015, if that happens there would huge in increase in natural resource trade. There is a huge complimentality as we in Canada have to diversify our markets and India is also looking to diversify its sources of supply.

There is a huge interest on India’s part about purchasing LNG and petroleum products. There is a small amount of oil moving now from the East Coast of Canada to the refineries in India. The big potential was in some of the big proposed pipeline projects. Perhaps the most significant for India is the Energy East project, which would bring oil from Northern Alberta to St Jerome. That project would be in a position to start by 2018.

There is significant interest from Indian companies for Canadian crude oil and LNG. We have resources of 168 billion barrels and in terms of LNG 37 tcf of natural gas. About LNG 11 projects under various stages are under review. It could handle 165 MT of LNG a year. Natural resource projects in Canada for the next 10 years will require about $650 billion investment. The Energy East project itself is about $10 billion. I see Canada being at the top in investment chart of a number of Indian companies.

Do you think the dynamics of global trade will change after TTIP & TPP? How keenly is Canada involved?

There will be significant increase. We have an estimate on how much the free trade agreement will add. Around $6 billion free trade agreement would add. What it does will open up two markets more sales from Canada and India. That’s a $12 billion increase, irrespective of the trade that coming from sale of oil and gas.