Pradhan to make case for rational energy pricing at Asia meet

Oil Minister Dharmendra Pradhan will again make a case for rational pricing of energy when he speaks at the 7th Asian Ministerial Energy Roundtable in Bangkok.
India is the current chair of International Energy Forum, which is promoting the roundtable that brings together energy ministers and experts from Asian countries on November 1-2.
Pradhan will participate in the ministerial roundtable and speak on 'Natural Gas: Overcoming Market and Policy Hurdles to the Golden Age of Gas', an official statement said.
Energy Ministers from Saudi Arabia, Russia, UAE, Thailand, Iraq, Qatar, Kuwait, Bangladesh, Malaysia and Brunei are also participating in the roundtable.

At the 6th Annual LNG Producers Consumer Conference in Tokyo earlier this month, he had "called for establishing a liquid, flexible and global LNG market, abolition of Destination Restriction Clause and also explore possibilities of cooperation in establishing reliable LNG spot price indices reflecting true LNG demand and supply", the statement said.
Pradhan, during his meetings and interactions with OPEC Secretary General has called for replacing the 'Asian Premium' on oil with 'Asian Discount', it said.

"He has emphasised the implementation of responsible and reasonable pricing' by producing countries.
"In this background, the IEF, whose membership accounts for 90 per cent of global supply and demand for oil and gas, is an important forum to share India's views on global oil and gas scenario and the changes that are required to balance it better and benefit not only producers, but also consumers," it said.

The 7th AMER at Bangkok will be an important IEF event before India hosts the 16th IEF Ministerial meeting.
India is the current Chair of IEF and will host the 16th Ministerial Conference in April next year.